To walk the fine Line
by SilentForest21
Summary: What a familiar world and yet not hers. My name Iki Hiyori... I've heard it from somewhere in my past life before. A world wherein Hiyori is similar to Father and yet not. The world shifts two feet to the left as she causes more calamity before canon. "Don't worry Yakkun, this is an organized mess. Take a seat and enjoy the ride you never wanted." SI-Hiyori, Soul-Transmigration
1. Chapter 1

**1**

**To walk the fine Line**

By SilentForest21

Summary:

What a familiar world I've reincarnated into and yet it's not mine. My name Iki Hiyori... I've heard it from somewhere in my past life before. Now if only my body could make up its mind whether it wants my soul or not. A world wherein Hiyori is similar to Father and yet not. The world shifts two feet to the left as she causes more calamity before canon. "Don't worry Yakkun, this is an organized mess. Take a seat and enjoy the ride you never wanted." SI-Hiyori

Fandom: Noragami

Rating: M

Genre: Family, Spiritual

Characters: Iki Hiyori, Yato (Yaboku), Father, OC

Disclaimer: I don't own Noragami. I don't claim any liability for the validity of any information. This is for nonprofit use only.

—

**Chapter 1:**

**This is not my world...is it?**

It was a quiet place. Nobody bothered her. She felt at rest. But the cold...The cold seeped into your deepest being. She shivered. It was neither dark nor bright. Neither loud nor silent. She remember...She died... tripping on her books... or was it her paperwork?...on the floor on the way back from the toilet to her bed in the dark of the night, she had hit my head. How careless.

...

She kept on walking through the gray area. How long has it been? Neither the bright side nor the dark one was silent. A constant whisper and murmur could be heard whenever one got closer to the darker side. A cahoot of many different voices.

"**Kill."**

"**I hate this. When will this end."**

"**I'm lost. Where is home?"**

"**Take the easy way out. Jump!"**

"**How careless. What a waste."**

"**I'm scared. It hurts."**

"**Do I have anything to lose?"**

"**Come closer."**

"**It smells go~od."**

_**A deep breath**_

"**Hungry."**

"**...—Hungry."**

"—**HUNgry."**

"**HUNGRY!"**

"**RWAOOAAAAR!"**

Whatever it was. It launched at her. Frightened, she jumped to the bright side. Suddenly there was a tug and all turned dark.

...

The next period of time was a blur. It was dark. Then warm, tight, gray, cold, painful, comfortable, scary, playful, exciting but most of all confusing. Isn't she dead. Why was she feeling this?

It took her two years to make sense of it. Has her brain had finally developed enough? 'My name is Hiyori and I'm two years old. Apparently I have reincarnated.'

How confusing.

...

"Congratulations it's a girl!" Iki-sensei announced to his wife. Gently depositing the baby in her arms.

"Welcome to the family, Iki Hiyori. May the gods bless you."

Iki-sensei transferred his wife and daughter to a private room. His son soon joined them, crowding around the newborn's bed.

"Masaomi, come greet your little sister." He approached the cradle. Masaomi peeked over it and caught his first glimpse. She was awake and waving her hand at the blurry creature in front of her. Hiyori was beckoning her brother to come closer so she could see him. He leaned in. His hand reached out with his index finger stretch out to poke the infant's cheek. As if sensing his intention or maybe misinterpreting, her hand reached out and clasped the finger.

"I'm your Onii-chan." The 12 year old child whispered. "Hiyori." He said, testing the name on his tongue. "Hurry up and grow so we can play, kay?" He smiled happily, thinking of all the things he could teach her.

How exciting.

...

Hiyori is a year old when her grandmother came to babysit her. She could stand and was trying to take her first steps. Her first words were not what her parents expected. Not haha-ue or chichi-ue nor aniki but "hungry".

"**Hungry."**

"Hungry!" Hiyori happily copies what the deranged voice said.

"**Smells good."**

"Smells good!" She repeats, clapping her hands. Her grandmother watches her as Hiyori's eyes drift over a small phantom. 'My granddaughter can see it.' She dismisses the notion that Hiyori will be able to see it in the future. 'Hiyori is still a young child. Of course she can still see it.'

Hiyori's mother had always known there was something not quite right with her daughter and confided in her mother. The grandmother could see now. Hiyori crawls to the phantom. It beckons her and happily greets monotonously. **"One. Of. Us."** Hiyori just waves backshyly as her grandmother picked her up to carry her away from the threat.

She was scared of her grandchild. Something about Hiyori was not right. The phantom said Hiyori was one of them. She resisted going for her bow and to aim it at her blood. From then onwards she refused to visit, never stating a reason and retreated to her ancestral home. She fears Hiyori.

She had hoped it wouldn't become a family trait. They were cursed.

How unfortunate.

...

Hiyori's memories of her past life hadn't awakened until she had drunk the nectar of the Sig Salua, a white lotus like flower. She would soon discern a pattern in regards to her previous lives.

"Haha-ue, look! Pwetty flowra!" Hiyori pointed to the flower in her grandmother's pond, her other hand clasped in her mother's. Her mother and her were visiting her maternal grandmother for once.

"What are you talking about? There is no flower there." Hiyori didn't like her answer and let her hand go to approach the pond. "It's right here in the pond." She kneeled down, cupped the white flower and lifted it to show her mother. 'The flower was there. How could she not have seen it?' Her mother could finally see the flower now that her daughter was holding it.

"I see you have discovered the pond, young lady." Her grandmother hid her fear and addressed her granddaughter.

"Mother, a pond? I don't see a pond? Since when did we have a pond?" Hiyori's mother asked confused.

"My daughter, you remember the room with the water reflection on the ceiling?"

"The one that only appeared at five past three in the afternoon?"

"Yes, that room is right here." Grandmother affirmed, pointing at the house.

"Oh, the mysterious spirit pond." She said fondly and watched as Hiyori dipped her hand into the ground, seemingly splashing around.

(AN: The Flower Sig Salua is from Moribito, Guardians of the spirit.

The pond is from Natsume Yuujinchou Season 1 Episode 13. The pond on the Tanuma Temple grounds.)

Suddenly Hiyori stopped and observed the flower in her hand. The flower seemed to be attracting her with its sweet smell. Pearly white petals formed a bowl. In its center a long stigma stood in a pool of liquid. Hiyori dipped her finger in, brought it to her mouth and tasted. It was sweet. She poured some into her cupped left hand and sipped. More! She wanted more and brought the flower to her mouth and drank. When it emptied, she let it fall back into the pond and grasped for the next. Her mother tried to stop her, only to receive insurance from her own mother that it was alright.

"The Sig Salua produce sweet nectar. The Ainu, indigenous people of Japan, used to make wine out of it. It has some spiritual properties. Drink to your hearts content." She too had trouble resisting its temptation to spend the day at the pond.

It was only after her fifth flower that Hiyori suddenly stopped and looked around in confusion. Her memories of her past lives slowly emerging. 'Where was she? Who was she?' Finally her eyes fell on her mother. 'Safe. This woman feels safe. She? My mother?' Old and new memories were mixing. Hiyori blinked and addressed her unsurely. "_Mommy, I'm tired._ Sleepy?" Hiyori's mother didn't understand that gibberish first part but she understood 'sleepy' and picked her daughter up. Hiyori fell asleep on the spot. Her head was pounding. Images flashing.

...

Flash.

She was running. Fear. Out of breath. She dropped her ring. "Wait our engagement ring." A hand pulled her arm. "No, Princess Signe lets run. Our pursuers are getting closer. I'll get you another one my love." They slipped on the leaves in the forest, not used to the strain of running. Their pursuer had caught up. A pitchfork drove through her stomach. Blood quelled forth, pouring out and staining the ground. She coughed one last time splattering blood over her killer. She died having lived her life like a demi-god but fallen to greed.

Flash.

She was soaring in the air. She was a red hawk. Her wings flapping from time to time, riding on the air current. Freedom. Clasped in her claws a hare. Sails-the-path-of-the-Wind landed in her nest and tore strips of meat off to feed her chicks. The sun was setting when her mate returned with another prey. She flew off only to be shot by another hunter. 'What a beautiful sunset.' She thought as the sun rays touched her crimson feathers one last time. Her mate had loved preening her plumage for her. 'He'll care for our chicks and raise them right.' She fell as an animal.

Flash.

Hot. Pain. Stop. She breathed and silently pleaded to the gods. "Aaahhh!" The spikes on her cuffs dug into her skin, drawing blood. "Shut up, slave!" More whippings. The hot sand burnt her soles. The sun bearing down on them relentlessly. Her fingers brushes her slave brand on her thigh. She hisses. "See to that this one does not receive water as a punishment!" Their tormentor ordered. Another slave slips. His chains connected to her cuffs. She falls. She gets up, annoyed and angry at her fellow slave. She wants to be free from her chains. 'Freedom when is that?' They received beatings for falling down and were sent back to heave stone materials for the king's tomb.

She's survivor. The tomb is built. The cruel old king is dead. The new king wages war. Slaves are sent out on the first line as cannon fodder. Ravaina lays on the ground broken and bleeding out, next to her another slave in similar condition. Darkness closes in on her vision. She hears a sobbing child not too far away, clinging to its dead friend. Child slaves were not spared from war. A distant battle cry sounds. She doesn't care. 'Freedom is the day you die, slave!' She chuckles, coughing up more blood that she was drowning on. A bitter tear slips out and her world turns silent. All wars are hell.

Flash.

Hunger. HUNGRY. Mindless hunger. She eats her fellow nestlings. She devours whoever she crosses paths with. Hunger drives. She will never be full. So hollow. 'Is there anyone that could fill her?' She consumes. Her boney mask evolves to protect and become a more efficient tool to the hungry ghost. She ventures where she shouldn't have. A figure appeared. "You will not venture past this point, Corazon!" They jumped, their black shihakusho flattering in the wind behind them. 'So they gave me a name.' She mused. "You smell tasty." She taunted, licking the lips of her boney mask, a long tongue leering at the prey. They didn't reply. "Rend apart, Koku to Yoru!" The blades tore into her flesh. She felt free. The hunger stopped. 'Thank you for releasing her, stranger.'

Flash.

Confusion. Assimilation. Identification. Growth. She drank from a white flower and remembers snippets of her past incarnations. Now she is a human living on her own. She doesn't fear the dark. She hears voices.

"_**I hate this. When will this end?"**_

"_**I'm lost. Where is home?"**_

"_**You're good for nothing. Just die already!"**_

"_**Useless!"**_

"_**I'm scared. It hurts."**_

"_**I don't want to die!"**_

"_**Come closer."**_

"_**It smells go~od."**_

_A deep breath_

"_**Hungry."**_

"_**...—Hungry."**_

"—_**HUNgry."**_

"_**HUNGRY!"**_

"_**RWAOOAAAAR!"**_

In the middle of the night her bladder wakes her up. Not her nightmare. She had been dreaming if her past incarnations again. She has been dreaming of her future. Everything she dreams tends to become reality. A self fulfilling prophecy to say.

Mairy gets out of bed and heads to the toilet to relieve herself. When she tries to return to her bed in the dark, she slips on her paperwork strewn all over the floor and hits her head. 'How careless she's become.' She will never wake up as Mairy again. Death is but the next adventure.

Flash.

"Let's find the greatest adventure and be the freest men to have ever lived!"

Flash.

"Fire! Run to the shelter!"

Bombs fell.

"Ahhhrrrrgg! Take the injured! Leave the dead."

"Ensign, leave me! The wound is too deep..." Blood was coughed up.

All wars are hell

Flash.

"Do you believe in fate?"

"What a silly notion."

Flash.

"Do you hate me that much?"

"Huh? But all I did was give you this pretty orange lily."

"Fire lilies symbolizes hatred and revenge."

Flash.

She was a man in officer clothing.

"Juden sind verdammte Dreckssauen. Lieber sollen sie kreppieren. Werft sie zum vergasen!" She no... He was ordering in German? 'Did she really say that Jews were pigs and deserved to be gassed? She was horrified at the actions.'

"Hey Jude! Ausgangssperre im Ghetto is um acht." She as He lords over the Jew that the curfew is at eight pm.

"Es ist jetzt aber erst sieben." The Jew talks back that it was only seven.

"Du willst wohl eine Tracht Prügel, was?" He offered to beat the Jew up for his infraction.

Was this the Nazi regime during the Second World War? 'Stop. Stop. Stop hitting the Jew! They are people too. Why won't they stop? Nooo please stop. Don't kill them! Please stop dragging the Jew by his hair! Can't you see he is hurt? Stop beating them! Where were they? The gas chamber? They are going to exterminate them? They were humans too. NOOOO! PLEASE STOP!' She closes her eyes. She still sees it. 'Was she this horrible person in one of her lives? Did she hurt so many? Why hadn't she remembered this in her last life? She didn't want to be a bad person.' Tears were staining her cheeks. This was horrible.

Flash.

"Could you bring me a packet flour? And if there are eggs... bring me six."

"Sure. Give me a moment."

"Why did you bring me six packs of flour?"

"But there _were_ eggs. That's what you asked for, no?"

"Don't tell me you thought in computer algorithms again! What am I ever going to do with you?"

Flash.

"The weather sure is nice today." A breeze stirs up her dress.

Flash.

"Don't forget me!"

"See you next summer!"

Flash.

"Come to dad~dy."

"No thanks."

The father whines. His child ignored him.

Flash.

"Anime is the greatest invention!"

Flash.

The smell of sea breeze. A hike up the mountain. The scenery from above a cliff. Massive waves crash against the cliff face.

Flash.

In an economy seat a child sat looking at the clouds beneath the plane. If only he could fly on his own. He'd love to play with the clouds.

Flash.

The sun was rising. A small fishing boat rolled with the lake's waves. A fishing pole extended over its side. A tug. She grapes and heaves the fish aboard.

Flash.

A cat was enjoying the merry evening sun, napping. A child wanders by and pets it. The cat rolls over and purrs.

Flash.

A melody. It sounds familiar. Always with me from Chihiro Spirited Away?

Flash.

Flash.

Flash.

Flash.

Flash.

...

The sun had begun to set. Evening. In the distance a crow calls. Hiyori wakes up from her memories induced nap. 'Who am I?' Old and new memories rage war. One side wins. 'I'm Iki Hiyori now. How many lives has she lived? How many names have she taken on? How many different ways has she died? Does it matter? All her lives blend together. She lives now and that is all that matters. She can forge a new personality.' She tries to make peace with her past.

She gets up and trots to the window. A sunset just as beautiful as the day of her bird's-self death. Hiyori shakes her head to clear away that thought. A knock sounds on the door. "Hiyori? Are you awake? Dinner is ready!" The door opens but she is already making her way to her mother. "Coming. Hungry. Food!" All her favorite words.

They join the grandmother in the dining room. "Hiyori! Say aaaah!" She opens her mouth, allowing her mother to feed her. By the fifteenth time she is getting annoyed. 'She was a grown ass woman. She wants her independence!' The moment her mother puts down her spoon to pick up her own for a bite, Hiyori picks up her baby spoon and starts clumsily shoveling the food into her mouth. With great effort, most of it land in her mouth. Some on her cloths and face. Her weak uncoordinated arms were trembling. She still has a quarter left to eat. It's difficult to aim for a hole you can't see. "My little girl is so smart! She already knows how to feed herself." Her mother praised and cheered. Hiyori feels embarrassed. 'It's not such a big feat.'

Bath time followed dinner. And before Hiyori's mother knew, her daughter was already stripping herself and scrubbing herself under the shower. "Kids sure grow up fast."

...

If there is anything Hiyori dislikes about her current situation, it is that she isn't potty trained. She's got to rectify that. She can't keep wetting her bed. It's unpleasant.

Another childhood struggle is the speaking part. Her tongue is clumsier that a baby panda. That is not the only thing that is clumsy. Her body is so uncoordinated that it isn't funny. Hiyori despairs. On the bright side, she could walk at least.

She was bored. Her mind was rotting. 'Maybe she was suffering a thinking retardation.' The only books that she could access were Japanese. That brings her to the problem of the language barrier. The few words that Hiyori knew, was not going to be enough if she is going to live in a Japanese speaking country. She has an idea on how to learn. Hiyori picks up that Japanese nursery rhymes book, opens it and shoves it at her mother. She hits her first obstacle. She doesn't know to word for '_read_'. She just points at a character for fire and says "Hi! Hi wa atsui." (Fire, Fire is hot.) She points at the first character of the paragraph and makes a questioning sound. "Hmmmhu?" Her mother gets what she is trying to ask for after awhile. "Tora-chan ga umareta." (Tiger was born.) She reads the paragraph. Hiyori points at the character and asks "Tora?" Her mother nods. "ga" Another character. "umareta" Hiyori repeated the paragraph, copying her mother. Two birds one stone. She gets to practice speaking with her clumsy tongue and learn to read. She will not be bored for awhile.

...

Shichigosan is an important Japanese tradition. Her parents take it serious. On her third birthday they took her to a Jinja. A shrine dedicated to Ebisu, god of fortune. It would mark her first interaction with the godly side.

After her little ceremony she was allowed to explore the grounds. A middle aged man was walking past her. She couldn't help notice his shoes. The shoe lace was undone. He was going to trip.

"Ojisan, your shoelaces are loose." She pointed out. Their eyes met.

"You're right, ojou-chan. Thank you for telling me." He kneels down on one knee, taking the strings into his hands.

"You're welcome." She was feeling sociable today, so she squatted down to observe his hands. He was struggling. His hands look like they are a cross between cat's cradle and bondage. She sweat-dropped. "Do you need help, Ojisan?" Without waiting for a reply Hiyori reached out and gently tugged at the shoe laces, untying the gods hands. He obviously didn't know how to tie it.

"Ojisan, this is a small trick haha-ue showed me on how to tie shoe laces. First you make a loop like this. See it's a rabbit ear." It was a lie. Her mother of this life never taught her. Neither did that of her last. She had learned it from a kind elderly woman whom her past life's mother hadn't liked but had to tolerate. She draped one lace over her outstretched index, folding the lace in half and held the two halves pinched together between her middle finger an her thumb. 'She really was providing instruction on how to tie a shoe lace.' "Now we have one rabbit ear." She happily announces.

He was staring intently. She ignored that and grabbed his hand to maneuver it into position. "Next you take the other lace and bring it around the loop." She grabs his other hand and maneuvers it to do her bidding. "Now we have a small hole at the thumb. So we are going to make a loop out of this lace as well... like the other one. Next we slip the loop, another rabbit ear, through that hole at the thumb and out of there will pop a pair of rabbit ears." Hiyori cheered, appropriating his hands to neaten and tug the shoe lace into place.

"Thank you, ojou-chan. My name is Ebisu. May I know yours?"

"Hello Ebisu. I'm Iki Hiyori. I'm three today. Nice to meet you." She gave a polite bow. "Ebisu-ojisan, whoever named you sure liked irony. Ebisu-ojisan is visiting O-kami Ebisu-sama's shrine."

He did not comment on that. Instead he continues observing her. She was dressed up in a cute kimono. Clearly she was celebrating Shichigosan. He held out a hand and laid it on her head. Hiyori looked up at him, wondering 'what's up dude?'

"May you be blessed with fortune."

Ebisu smiled and stood up from his crouch. "Have a nice day, Hiyori-chan. See you again." Oh! It's a farewell then. "You too Ebisu-ojisan. Bye bye." She waved as he turned to continue his path.

Hiyori continues her exploration and eventually meets up with her parents.

Later that day, Ebisu will be writing down this unusual encounter in his notes. While young children may be able to see spirits, they aren't usually able to interact with them, let alone touch one without phasing through them.

...

Hiyori liked to sing. So when she sang for the first time in her new body, she was horrified. 'She sounded like a dying cat! It was gone. All of her hard work gone. The voice she used to train so hard... her silky smooth voice... It was all gone! She can't reach the large vocal range she was used to.'

She remembered her past life clearly. Hiyori had joined a child choir at a young age, training her vocal chords vigorously. Later when puberty rolled around she was so embarrassed to sing as she lost control over her voice so often that she quitted. When her voice finally settled she resumed her training albeit privately in the safety of her room. Fondly she recalled warming up her voice by singing the music scale. She could never be a professional but for herself it sounded great and that was enough. Hiyori start to warm up her voice, singing the notes:

"C. D. E. F. G. A. H.

C'. D'. E'. F'. G'. A'. H'.

C". D". E". F". G". A". H".

C'". D'". E'". F'". G'". H'". "

Hiyori will have to practice again. She couldn't hit some notes on the third octave. She will be glad once she has this down.

Her family was not so glad and found her dying cat voice annoying yet awfully amusing.

...

Masaomi was _not_ jealous. Hiyori was receiving more attention because she was younger and needed it. He wished his parents would pay him more attention though. He was 16 damn it. He shouldn't be jealous.

It was obvious from the start that Hiyori was a little prodigy. Her room resembled more a library in which someone is camping out in than a bedroom. Books from different languages could be found. German, English, French, Chinese, Japanese and Spanish books could be found. All of them well above the reading capacity of a three and a half year old child. Truly her family spoiled her.

Hiyori felt guilty. She was naught but a fraud. A fake.

...

Hiyori decides that she doesn't want anything to do with children. It was her first play date. 'Well the first one she could remember in this life. Her mother was introducing her to children of respectable families. Her mother didn't want her to mix with the disreputable type. It could tarnish their family image. Oh the horror. What travesty!' Hiyori was tempted to befriend a yakuza's child now. The more you tell her no, the more likely she was to do it.

Back to her play date. This was how she met Aimi-chan and Yama-chan. The original Hiyori's friends.

Yama-chan was a good girl. She liked drooling. Perhaps a little too much. Her thumb often found its way into her mouth. 'Oral stimulation?' Yama liked people. Yama liked Hiyori. Hiyori however does not appreciate a drool covered hand trying to reach out to her. At least Yama was cute. She babbled. "Bisss, kaaaaru! Ka grumb...fish." Hiyori is sorry, Hiyori does not speak baby. She shook her head.

Aimi was another story. She seemed to understand Yama's mysterious baby language. "Vis, akade hibli va oou gratchma fish mehh. Oktop us lick bes life." To Hiyori it sounds like someone took Latin, add it to Japanese and a pinch of Gaelic, threw in some Indo-Germanic language and shook it well in a cocktail mix.

Hiyori placed another block on her tower. She'd like to imagine they said "Mom murdered a pretty fish. We ate it for dinner." and "Look, I like octopus better than fish. We saw some at the aquatic exhibition we went to. Wanna go catch some there?" ...Or something along that line... Aimi turned to Hiyori and asked. "Quitad dinner melak mite artch servus sumpa?" Hiyori drew a blank. "Umm... Googoo gaga mama, bah?" Hiyori answered randomly, testing the waters as she tries to place another block on her tower. Aimi seemed satisfied with her answer and babbled her ear off. 'She has no idea what Aimi understood from _that_.' Aimi liked talking. "Trish agrib sont mochi, mik alla purpose tode bif! Fallow jrav hugix kimi sum fakrat." Hiyori only understood _mochi_—'Food...' She was reduced to a drooling toddler. Hiyori was distracted and her tower crashed. Aimi is evil.

...

Hiyori was bored. There was a dilemma. She could attend school. But that would mean interacting with _children_. She shudders. Or she could continue her boredom. Sooner or later she would have to go to school. Maybe she should do it now instead of later, so she would have more time for herself in the future. She was bored anyways. What better way to kill time? She would rather face the music now.

...

By the age of four she demanded to attend elementary school, wanting to skip the optional nursery all together. Her parents denied her. She didn't heed them and snuck off.

Later she returned home. Neither parents could locate her during her absence. She returned with an acceptance letter from the elementary, stating she had passed their entrance exam. 'Since when does elementary employ entrance exams?' Their parents stop questioning when they read the letter and went out for a celebratory dinner.

Two weeks at the elementary and Hiyori grew bored. 'Booored! Who was she? Sherlock? BORED! If only she had a gun to shoot at the wall with.' She was willing to try middle school. But first she needed to graduate. After class finished, she head out to her current school administration's door and knocked.

"Enter!"

"Excuse me. My name is Iki Hiyori. I would like to take elementary graduation exam."

"Do you have your guardian's permission?"

"No Sir, but what is the harm of trying to write the exam. If I fail, there will be no need to involve my busy parents. Should I pass, _that_ would be a good reason to contact them as it too concerns them, am I right? There would be lesser work for either parties."

"Sigh. Very well. There is no harm in trying. Your exam begins now. Please take a seat at that table over there." He was _so_ going to get it from the school director. The school administrator pulls out a stack of 10 papers.

"You have two hours. You may begin."

This pattern with ascending the schools would repeat twice before she doesn't get bored anymore. Entrance exam- bored- graduation exam- rinse and repeat.

Hiyori had forgot how mind numbing boring school was if you had to just repeat things you already knew. No she didn't need to know the abc song again thank you. She had graduated from university with a master degree in business ITC in her last life. The only difference was the English class standards here were low. The only classes that remotely entertained her were Japanese class and history. She was not Japanese in her last life and thus their history had never been of any importance to her. But even here her voracious appetite for knowledge in the books couldn't be quelled and she outpaced her peers. She continues her struggle with the Japanese language.

By the end of the year she had managed to graduate from high school and would be making her way into Tokyo University next.

...

Earlier that year she discovered a phone number that rang alarm bells in her head. She knew it from somewhere. 'Her past life perhaps? Was there something she was not remembering?' Something tingled at the back of her brain. —The phone number that stirred her so much was 080-0919-8100 Delivery God Yato. She looked it up online.

"Hiyori, what will you become in the future?" Her brother asked her one day. "I'll become a medic. More specifically a surgeon." She answered absentmindedly, while surfing the web, looking for an answer in regards to that phone number. She doesn't have a dream in the regard of education. All was interesting. She only says what people want to hear. "You're not becoming a general practitioner like father?" Masaomi inquired, laying his manga aside. "I hate dealing with people, …when they're conscious." She adds belatedly. She turned to him, looking him seriously in the eye. "Right." Her brother deadpanned sarcastically. 'He was still conscious and she was dealing with him. Should he be concerned for his health?' He knew that was a convenient excuse, so she could get out of dealing with their parent's sycophants. They had learned after she tried to drug them with her homemade KO drops from whatever plant she found in their garden. Wasn't she a little genius?

Meanwhile Hiyori was suffering a crisis. 'The name Yato stirs up a memory of her past incarnation. And that phone number... Where has she seen it before? Was the memory perhaps of an anime? Those _were_ the only media she did watch in her past life' She checks the web for animes she knew. Ranma, Evangelion, Macross Frontier, Durarara!, Deadman Wonderland, Naruto, Noragami, Inuyasha, Gintama, HunterXHunter, Nurarihyon no mago, Spirited away, Kamisama Hajimemashita, One Piece, Dragon Ball, Kamisama no inai Nichiyoubi, Bleach, Natsume Yuujinchou, Moribito and Kimetsu no yaiba. With every search she grows frustrated. Some of the animes apparently do not exist. She checks the calendar. 'It makes sense. _Some_ have not been created yet. But what annoys her are the fact that _some_ animes that should have existed by the turn of the century don't! It was past the year 2000 already, stupid. They were going to have smartphones with the next half a decade.' Her clicks have become more rapid. All the animes that don't exist but should have— all of them have something in common. They have at least one character that is either a god or an ayakashi. Once was chance that Inuyasha did not exist. Twice is coincidence that neither One Piece nor Bleach exist. Thrice is a god damned pattern that neither Natsume Yuujinchou, Nurarihyon no Mago nor Spirited away exist.

"This screams conspiracy." Something was erasing any media that contains either god or ayakashi.

"Thank you for letting me use your computer." Hiyori leaves her brother's room. 'The number... where has she seen it in her last life. Think. Focus. Why would she remember a phone number? Which entertainment media has a phone number every fan would know and is stationed in Japan?...Noragami... Delivery god Yato. The name matches up. Her name... Iki Hiyori a match as well, the phantoms she sees, Her brother's name Masaomi...a match as well... her brain tells her— coincidence?' Her magenta eyes harden. 'Sh*t! No wait! She means... Strawberries! She was in Noragami! Avoiding the plot is impossible anyway. Sooner or later the universe would collapse if she didn't play her role. Stupid chaos theory. Sh*t! Damn it! Sh*t-ake! Mango! F*dge! There goes her chance of normal life! Pineapple her life!' She is not taking a chance. It was a pattern. If it proves true that she is the heroine in Noragami, she should start planning now or what she holds dear will be lost. She is going to call Yato's number.

She could use some help getting rid of the annoying ayakashi on the higher shelves of her library. She has no idea how but ever since she reincarnated, she has been able to see these eyeball blobs. They seem to be attracted to her, especially the small fries. It was only now that she made the connection to Noragami that she now knew what those were. Days after this revelation she went to a shrine to get some water. She discovered that shrine water does helps against them and has since then kept a spray bottle of shrine water on hand.

She doesn't want to meet him but she can't keep trying to put it off. Hiyori grabs 5¥ out of her purse and heads to the phone. "Haha-ue, may I use the phone?" Hiyori ask for permission. She doesn't own her own yet. Maybe that should be the next thing she should buy with her savings from her birthday gift. "You may." Her mother gives her permission and turns back to cooking their meal. Her mother won't be overhearing them.

She dials the number she knows by heart yet has never called before. 080-0919-8100 call. _"Hello, Thank you for calling. Fast, affordable and reliable! Delivery God Yato, at your service!"_

"Hello Yato-san, do you perform exorcism? I have some unpleasant spirits taking their liberty in messing up my room." Hiyori almost dropped the phone, when he suddenly appeared. She settles for setting the phone down and blinks. She wasn't surprised that his shinki is neither Tomone nor Yukine. It was not canon yet. "That was fast, if you would come this way..." She led him up the stairs to her room. When she opens her door the ayakashi small fries seem to fill up the room, almost spilling out.

Sighting, Hiyori just pulls out her spray bottle of holy doom and sprays at the closest ones that were trying to go for her face. **"Smells good!"** 'They never learn.' It hisses as the water hits it, drawing attention of the others and they start retreating to the ceiling. She was _so done_ at this point. She didn't fear them. They were just unpleasant. "They always do that when I come. I wish they wouldn't linger here." She shrugs helplessly. It was bad enough that she didn't want to sleep in her own room as they attack her when she is asleep. Their attacks were harmless though. They just kept her awake. How annoying. "Will this be enough, Yato-gami?" Shit! She slipped up. He didn't notice, distracted by the coin. Hiyori held out the five yen coin. "Your wish has been heard loud and clear. May our fates intervene forever." Yato posed with the coin, he had accepted.

"Come Yaki!" His current shinki revealed itself to be a kotachi. The work performed was beautiful. The air in her room felt lighter now. "Yato-san, arigato gozaimasu." She bowed formally.

Yato looked at her with starry eyes and his ego seemed to have swelled. He has never been thanked by a human so formally. Oh boy... his poor shinki. Yato coughed to clear his throat. "Fast, affordable and reliable! Delivery God Yato, at your service!"

"Iki Hiyori, pleasure to make your acquaintance." She introduced herself. They shake hands. Yato interest was piqued. A human child past the age of where one should still be able to see, could see ayakashi. She would either become the greatest threat or remain insignificant. One thing is sure. He will be keeping an eye on her.

Both bid farewell and turned to their heavy thoughts.

...

She has managed to confirm something. "This is not my world. It is similar yet not. This is Noragami. I'm Iki Hiyori from Noragami." It has gotten complicated.

What an impending headache.

—

Thank you for reading.

Next Chapter:

An accident... or was it on purpose?

Hiyori is getting paranoid about the world. It was conspiring to murder her.


	2. Chapter 2

**2**

**To walk the fine Line**

By SilentForest21

Summary:

What a familiar world I've reincarnated into and yet it's not mine. My name Iki Hiyori... I've heard it from somewhere in my past life before. Now if only my body could make up its mind whether it wants my soul or not. A world wherein Hiyori is similar to Father and yet not. The world shifts two feet to the left as she causes more calamity before canon. "Don't worry Yakkun, this is an organized mess. Take a seat and enjoy the ride you never wanted." SI-Hiyori

Fandom: Noragami

Rating: M

Genre: Family, Spiritual

Characters: Iki Hiyori, Yato (Yaboku), Father, OC

Disclaimer: I don't own Noragami. I don't claim any liability for the validity of any information. This is for nonprofit use only.

—

**Chapter 2:**

**An accident...or was it on purpose?**

She has managed to confirm something. "This is not my world. It is similar yet not. This is Noragami. I'm Iki Hiyori from Noragami." It has gotten complicated.

...

'_Someone_ was trying to murder her.' Hiyori mused. That was going to be entertaining. 'Yay me.'

At first the attempts were subtle. Various objects placed in her path in the dark. 'Constant vigilance! Were they hoping she'd trip over them and die? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. She was not having a repeat of her last death.' This time, the attempted murder weapon was a banana peel. She picked it up and discarded it in the bin. She attributed it to the phantoms usual mischief and either walked around them or picked them up to return to their usual order. Dismissing their attempts. The attempts increased in frequency and malicious intent. Lately even flower pots have been falling for her head. Hiyori was getting paranoid.

...

Surviving high school was no easy feat. Neither was middle school. The girls constantly tried to strangle her for being cute. Sometimes even suffocating her with their boobs. The only time being cute helped was during bullying attempts. Teachers kept a close eye on her. It discouraged most of the bullies.

Sports was not advantageous for her either. Everybody had longer legs and more strength. It was unfair. She was hitting a limit with her young body. Her school bullies took advantage of that. They hid her vandalized belongings in the highest places. She always got it back, albeit with some difficulty. Hiyori fell back to her old habits from her past life. She kept an eye on all her belongings at all times at school. Thus she carried her books with her everywhere. She did the same with her outdoor shoes, never leaving them in her school's shoe box.

Her bullies identified sports to be the best place to bully her. Her cloths and belongings in the changing room would always end up vandalized or stolen. Hiyori didn't bother to wear the girls uniform anymore and just wore the school sports jerseys all the time instead. At first the teachers wanted to punish her for 'breaking' the school dress code but she just countered innocently that the sports jersey was also a part of the school uniform and no different from summer and winter uniform. They conceded and let her wear the jersey even on normal school days. It made it easier for her to run from bullies and her avid (huggers/suffocators/)fans and there were less skirt flipping... well actually none at all as the jersey had no skirt. In the end she just made sure to hide her books in the teachers' office before heading to sports lesson.

The bulling was annoying. She would turn it into her advantage and use it to train. If she was going to be chased by ayakashi and what not in the future she better get up to speed ... and dodge! She could understand why they were bulling someone younger but apparently smarter than them. Jealousy does a lot of things. They were playing dodgeball. Hiyori was not enjoying this. The opposite team was aiming all their balls at her. The teacher dismissed it as them trying to remove what they perceive as easy prey. She was getting better at not getting hit. She weaved and ducked, rolling out of the way of the ball before jumping up to catch one and return fire. Hiyori was getting faster, more coordinated and something stirred n her. She was sensing something. 'A ball was thrown at her head from behind?' Hiyori leaned left. It whistle past her ear missing her, hitting the opposite team. It would have hit her if she hadn't moved. 'Weird.' She does not dwell on it.

The fierce battle was still raging. With every ball she launched at her opponents, she imagined herself to be Monkey D. Garp from One Piece launching cannon balls with her bare hands at the pirates. Each ball heading her way was a cannon ball from the bad pirates. It was more fun this way. A ball was heading for her stomach. It had a too high velocity for her to catch safely at this distance. She fell into a backwards roll and caught it two meters further back, ran forwards and returned the favor. Another ball was heading her way she spun out if its path and caught another one that was heading for her teammate. Hiyori quickly passed the teammate the ball, freeing her hands just in time to catch the next. It now stood four vs seven. Not in her team's favor. 'The only reason she hadn't been hit yet could be attributed to her small size and speed.' She joked inwardly.

The opposite team was still aiming for her, leaving her team unharrassed to attack them. She jumped over a ball only to notice 'two (no three?) balls' heading her way simultaneously. She only sees two though. She threw the ball in her hand at one of the balls in midair and it redirected them both off course. With her hands freed she could now catch the next ball, only for a third ball to headshot her. 'Where had it come from? She knew it was coming. She hadn't seen it though.' Hiyori was too slow. She was out. Hiyori dutifully removed herself from the field. One by one they got shot out. Her team lost. 'Was that counted as a murder attempt?'

She doesn't know what to make if it. On one hand Hiyori was popular. On the other hand they seem to dislike her. Humans are complicated.

...

Hiyori's mother was taking her shopping for their dinner. Their hands clasped in each other's as the wander past a construction site. Hiyori was strong for a four and a three-quarter year old, having to carry her books everywhere for school. She was carrying her own grocery bag in her other hand. The books acted as weights. She now had lean muscles. Today she bought her first cell phone. A sky blue flip phone with a camera and voice recorder. She doesn't need anything better.

Acting like a child despite not being one was difficult. How does one behave like a child? One observes. On the opposite side of the street a child tugs their mother's arm, jerking her around. That child was unruly. It was tugging and jerking its mother around for more that twenty-three times. 'Poor woman. Maybe she should follow the child's example and tug her mother's arm too. Maybe not as many times.' Hiyori contemplates. Her eyes on her feet. Suddenly she notices something. The shadow was growing bigger! A steel beam from the construction site was falling towards them. "Hiiihhh!" Hiyori screams and jerks her mother's arm towards her and they land on the street off the pedestrian walkway. 'Her mother is heavy and difficult to jerk around. ' The beam narrowly missing them. ***Boooooooonnnnk!*** A car warns them. "Hikyaaaaa!" She throws herself at her mother, who was getting up and they land back on to the pedestrian walk way. Her mother landed on the fallen steel beam, bruising her back. "Hiyori! What do you think you were doing, Young Lady!" Her mother admonished and sat up. "S-saving us! L-look at w-what y-y-you were l-l-lying on, Mother!" Hiyori was breathing hard. Her chest rising and falling rapidly. She got up, helped her mother up and pointed at the beams. Hiyori's mother finally noticed the steel beams and her face paled. "W-we were thi-this close to d-death?" She stuttered. Her mother's face morphed. Finally their faces were a mirror image if each other. Pale, wide eyed, fear written all over their faces.

Hiyori recovered from that shock, gulped and pulled her mother's arm. "Come on let's go home." Her mother still in shock followed. 'It was not as it Hiyori feared death. She just wanted to enjoy being alive a bit longer.'

Neither her nor her mother mentioned this incident again. That night Hiyori couldn't sleep. She tossed and turned but eventually settled down and entered dreamland.

...

"_**Kill. You'll be rid of it."**_

"_**I hate this. When will this end?"**_

"_**I'm lost. Where is home?"**_

"_**You're good for nothing. Just die already!"**_

"_**Useless!"**_

"_**Take the easy way out. Jump!"**_

"_**How careless. What a waste."**_

"_**I'm scared. It hurts."**_

"_**I don't want to die!"**_

"_**Do I have anything left to lose?"**_

"_**Come closer."**_

"_**It smells go~od."**_

_A deep breath_

"_**Hungry."**_

"_**...—Hungry."**_

"—_**HUNgry."**_

"_**HUNGRY!"**_

"_**RWAOOAAAAR!"**_

Hiyoriwoke up with a startle. That dream again. She had the same one just last week. The cahoot of voices. Even now that she is awake, she still hears them. Her hands cover her ears, willing them to shut up. They sound painful.

She remembers. She is in Noragami. 'Are those voices from the Far Shore?' They sound scarier if you hear them in person than through a computer screen. She nearly died. She should remember. This was her reality now. Hiyori wished she could bury her head in the sand and claim denial. It would have been such a wonderful thing. She doesn't want to have to accept it but still does. 'Where has her sanity gone off to?'

...

Dealing with a child is one thing. Dealing with a depressed child makes for a strange creature. Her parents do not deserve her weird shit.

"Hiyori! Let's got to the park, so you can make some friends!" Her mother smiled. 'Oh! They think I'm depressed because I don't have friends. Can I fake sleep?' Hiyori had tried to befriend her body's original friends. 'Aimi-chan and Yama-chan was it?' Let's just say the mental age gap was too big. Her thoughts flash back to a pair of babbling, drooling toddlers. 'Maybe she'll try again in a decade.'

On a larger note. Hiyori does NOT want to deal with children. Going to the park equals drooling germs ridden children. 'Nope! She doesn't want that. Maybe she could bring a book, so she could retreat into a safe quiet corner.' Her mother knew her by now and she was _not_ permitted to bring a book along. She was however able to negotiate for permission to bring a board game the shoji set and some money for ice cream. 'Maybe she will find a nice old man to teach her how to play.'

They arrived at the park. First thing first. She needs to scope out the battlefield. As far as she can see children. Finally, she spots an empty bench the children and everyone seem to be avoiding and Hiyori takes a seat on the bench to prepare the shoji board her mother had carried to the park for her.

She spoke too soon. When Hiyori looked up she finally noticed the bench was occupied. Cyan eyes meets magenta. Good news! :) She had found herself the oldest old man in the park! He was at least a thousand years old she estimates.

Bad news! :( It's Yato.

"Oh! It's you." Hiyori's voice deflates. She was hoping for a bench of her own.

"Why the disappointed voice?" Yato teases. He was surprised she remembered him. His customers usually forgot him in less than two weeks. It was sad.

"I was looking for an old man to teach me how to play shoji." She pouts.

Yato sighs. He was not very good with children. He tries his best to cheer her up. Yato mimics a phone with his hands. "Brrrrring!" He clicks his tongue to make it sound as if he picked up. "Hello, Thank you for calling. Fast, affordable and reliable! Delivery God Yato, at your service! Yes. Uhu. Of course. I can teach you how to play shoji for just 5¥." His shinki was off on the side smiling fondly.

Hiyori smiles. "I think I'll take you up on that offer, Yato-ojisan." She teases and hands him a five yen coin. "Your wish has been heard loud and clear. May our fates intervene forever." Yato flips the coin and poses. They spent half an hour teaching Hiyori in a crash course on how to play shoji. Rules, pieces and common tactics.

"Let's play Yato-san. Winner gets this 5¥ coin!" Hiyori bets, feeling confident. Needless to say, she lost. "Again!" She begs. This time she didn't bet anything. They play another round and another and another. The park was getting emptier. Yato beats her every time. She was getting better at understanding his tactics. For once she managed to capture his rook but eventually lost the game.

"Looks like I lost again. Let's get some ice cream. My treat." She offers and they start cleaning up the board storing it back into its bag.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Yato cheers. His shinki already following his steps.

"Hello Ice-cream-ojisan! I'm paying for the three of us. Can I get a stracciatella cone?"

"Good afternoon ojou-chan. A stracciatella, coming right up. And three people, but its only you?"

"Ossan, it's us. We are over here. See three. I'd like a scoop of pistachio, strawberry and vanilla. Shizune, what would you like?" Hiyori's eye twitched. 'Talk about taking advantage of the situation.'

"A chocolate cone, please." Shizune, Yato's shinki, was a woman of about 20 years in appearance. Her black hair was in short chin-length bob haircut, her hair side swept. She wore a thigh length purple kimono with a red obi. On her legs were a pair of white thigh-high split toe socks and a pair of waraji sandals.

'Shizune, so that is her name.' Hiyori had been wondering. She only knew her as her weapon form Yaki. Her name, Shizune, fits. Shizune is very quiet.

Hiyori pays for the ice cream. 'Yato sure took advantage of this. When was the last time he had a proper meal?...' Her thoughts ran amok, imagining his get-food-quests. Yato vs Cat. She shook her head. 'He'll be fine until canon.'

They had long since finished the ice cream and were sitting in silence. "Hey Yato-san, I need to go home now." She jumped off the bench. Her tiny feet hit the ground. She turned to him one last time for that day. "Are we friends?" Hiyori looked him in the eyes. They were pretty. She guessed.

"Yeah. Let's be friends." Yato smiled rancorously. 'How many times has he befriended a human, only to be forgotten about after a month?'

"I'll call you Yato then. You can call me Hiyori. See you soon."

"See you soon, Hiyori."

Hiyori turned and was making her way to her mother, who was waiting outside the park. Her mother was chatting with another woman. She noticed a ball rolling onto the street from the park. A boy was running after it, not noticing the incoming car. "Watch out!" The boy freezes.

Nobody seem to notice he was in danger. She was the closest. One moment she was holding hands with her mother, the shoji bag in her other hand. The next her hands were empty and she was slamming into the boy, curling, wrapping her arms around him. They rolled onto the pedestrian walk on the other side before Hiyori hits her head on the lamppost absorbing the rest of the impact with her body shielding the boy.

The tires of the car screeches. Her mother comes running. Hiyori's vision turns black.

…

When Hiyori came around after her little accident, her world had shifted.

'Was that her body on the ground? So it has begun.' Hiyori watches her mother fuss over her body, eventually determining her to be unconscious. Her mother picks her body up and runs to the nearest hospital two streets away.

Yato appears next to her. "When I said: "See you soon", this was not what I had in mind."

"Hello Yato." She greets, continuing her examination of her soul. There was no tail cord like the original Hiyori had. Instead she had six protrusions from her upper back. 'Wings?' They were three pairs of wings. They were folded and hidden under her long hair.

'A fresh spirit. Her spirit is an adult? Hurry up. Better make her a shinki than let her get corrupted by an ayakashi.' Yato raised his hand, index and middle finger glowing.

"Thou with nowhere to go and nowhere to return. I shall grant you a place to belong..." He began. "Ano Yato wait!"

"My name is Yato. Bearing a posthumous name, you shall remain here. With this name, I make thee my servant. With this name and its alternate, I use my life to make thee a Divine Instrument! Thou art Wāka! As a Divine Instrument Nagi! Come Naki!"

(Author note: Hiyori (岐日和) means fair Weather. The last kanji of her name 和 means sum, calm harmony, peace. Its pronounced as _wa _or_ waka_. Nagi was then used in connotation to the meaning _calm_.

Yukine was named similarly. His character 雪 can be read as Yuki meaning _snow_. While his alternate Setsu, written with the same kanji could also means _snow, frost, ice, cold etc_. Do not use google translate. I mean Setsura (雪麗, Yuki Rei) means _snow resplendence_. Put the kanji into google and you get Seiryo. It's not wrong just inaccurate.

Yato uses the weapon name suffix _-ki_. See Hikki for Hiiro/Nora, Hanki for Tomone and Seikki for Yukine.)

Nothing happens. No reaction. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Yato held his hand out. Waves it up and down. Nope. Still no weapon.

"Yato! My name is still Hiyori! Why are you trying to call me otherwise?!" In all her old glory. She crawls over after determining that she can't stand and hugs Yato's leg like a baby panda. "Mou, if you want to give me a nickname. I'm fine with Naki." Hiyori accepts her alternate names as nicknames.

'Weird. What went wrong?' Yato looks at his hand and was about to try the spell again.

Suddenly she was engulfed in a light that flew to Yato. In his hands lay a bayonet rifle, a cross between a Mondragón Rifle and a Gewehr 43 rifle. The rifle was a Gewehr 43 at the base. Only the point of the rifle was styled like that of a Mondragón's with a bayonet knife attached to it.

(AN: Tanja Degurechaff's weapon from the manga Youjo Senki.)

"Revert Wākane." No reaction. "Revert Hiyori?" A flash of light and she reformed again. 'Why is she an adult now and why are the commands messed up?'

In that instant Hiyori took off running, ignoring Yato to catch up with her mother. Yato struggled to follow behind. His head pounding from the flood of her memories. 'There was so many. How old is she?' When they arrived, they were rushed to the Emergency Care Unit. Her mother briefly explained what happened. In the end the doctors and Hiyori's father Iki-sensei determined that there was nothing wrong with Hiyori and relocated her to a private hospital room.

Yato was lying on the couch nursing his headache as Hiyori sat by her body. She poke and prodded. Her ghostly hand just passed through her head. 'The original Hiyori had a tail, while i have wings. Her tail was a cord connecting her wirelessly to her body. What would happen if she touched her body with her _wings_? Would she be sucked back in?' Eventually Hiyori unfolded her wings, testing her theory. Yato looked up. 'Wings? So she wasn't a complete spirit yet when he named her.' Her wings looked like Ayato's Kagune from Tokyo Ghouls. Their color a deep-purple with a reddish hue.

She turned her back and maneuvered her wings with great difficulty to touch her body. 'How does one control how they move?' Suddenly she felt a falling sensation.

...

When Hiyori woke up in her body she heard. Voices from Far Off Shore again.

"_**I hate this. When will this end?"**_

"_**I'm lost. Where is home?"**_

"_**You're good for nothing. Just die already!"**_

"_**Useless!"**_

"_**Take the easy way out. Jump!"**_

"_**How careless. What a waste."**_

"_**I'm scared. It hurts."**_

"_**I don't want to die!"**_

"_**Do I have anything left to lose?"**_

"Those are the voices from Far Off Shore. You can hear them, can't you?" She raises her blanket only to see a creepy face.

"Hiya!" Hiyori kicks him off and unto the floor. Making a mad dash for the door, she puts the couch between herself and the dark figure. Her hand slowly groped in the dark until she found the light switch, flicking it on.

"Yato? Oh, it's just you."

He was still nursing a headache from her memory dump. "What the hell do you mean: 'It's just you?!' That's cold. Hiyori, what are you?"

"So you've seen my memories. Simply put... I'm a soul that has reincarnated multiple times..." Hiyori hesitates but adds "...like your father." Yato looked murderous. 'If looks could kill, she'd be dead. Oh wait. She was technically dead. —There's got to be an ongoing joke somewhere.'

"Don't worry. I have yet to wish a god into existence. Nor do I ever intend to. Too troublesome. Now let me get back to sleep." She continues, answering his unspoken question flippantly. Walking to her bed, she passes him. Hiyori pets his arm as best as she can (in her nearly five year old glory) to assure him and climbs into her bed. Her hospital dress riding up to reveal a kanji on her left thigh.

和

It was positioned on the same spot she once had her slave brand. Hiyori stares, lost in her memories. Yato looks guilty and places a hand on her shoulder, startling her. She shakes her head to clear away her past self's memory. "I'm alright. Thank you. Good night Yato." Hiyori slips into the covers and closes her eyes.

Yato leaves.

...

Morning arrives and Hiyori receives visitors. The boy from yesterday nervously shuffles into her room, accompanied by his mother and older sister. They bowed.

"Thank you for saving my son Kouto, yesterday." The mother expresses the family's gratitude. She gently nudges her son to my bed side. "F-flowers for you. G-get better soon." He shyly hands her the flowers. Bluebells for gratitude also everlasting love.

"Thank you. My name is Iki Hiyori. It's my pleasure to meet you." She bows from her bed. She accepts the flowers. The poor fellow blushes. "I'm Fujisaki Kouto." She resisted gaping. 'Fujisaki? As in Fujisaki like Yato's father? This is Yato's father?! Maybe she should have let the car hit him. It would save them from the future mess.'

Little did Hiyori know that like her awakening is triggered by drinking the Sig Salua's nectar, his is triggered by a near death experience. In this world Fujisaki Kouto will not be awakening as father anytime soon. They have just delayed the bullet not dodged it.

Yato felt a sting. 'Did Hiyori just had a murderous thought?'

'Kouto looks a lot like Takashi from Natsume Yuujinchou. I wonder if they are related despite coming from two different authors.' Hiyori mused. "Do you know someone by the name of Natsume Takashi?" The inquiry was random and curious. It had slipped out if her mouth so easily.

His mother gasped softly and admitted. "He is my grandfather and Kouto's great-grandfather. Why do you ask? Do you know him?"

That confirms a theory she had about her grandmother's house. On the plaque at the entrance to Hiyori's grandmother's home it was written _Kaname_. 'The mysterious spirit pond is located on the grounds. Was it coincidence?' Hiyori wanted to solve the mystery of the missing animes. "Somewhat. In a way. My maternal great-grandfather Kaname Tanuma had a friend by the name Natsume. Kouto here resembles him."

Her face proves Hiyori's information to be truthful. 'She needed a new hypothesis as her old one about something erasing animes has been falsified. New hypothesis: The missing animes have been assimilated into this one world. What is this world?'

Kouto's mother fawns over her. Inviting her to a play date with her son. Fujisaki-san is persuasive. Hiyori was done. 'She didn't want to have anything to do with children. If only she could somehow contract narcolepsy like Portgas D. Ace from One Piece. It would be a convenient excuse to use to get her out of so many unwanted conversations. On top of that she would be able to get her much needed sleep.—Sleep. How wonderful thou art!' Hiyori does not care. Her mother on the other hand was ecstatic and Hiyori eventually gives in to the persistent woman and lets them arranged one for the next week. They exchanged phone numbers and the Fujisaki family left.

The afternoon of that day, she was discharged.

...

The play date with Fujisaki comes and goes. It begins awkwardly. Neither Hiyori nor Kouto knew how to interact. Hiyori didn't care to. Kouto was too shy to. 'Yato's father—so...he hasn't awakened the memories of his past life yet or is it all an act?'

Hiyori was not great with children. 'Maybe she should just lay down and sleep the play date away. That was the greatest idea.' Hiyori spots a fuzzy carpet and lays down to ignore the world. Denial is bliss.

Someone did not get the note that sleep is sacred. Fujisaki Kouto sneaks up on her, laughing and poking her cheeks. 'How dare he.' He seems to have gotten over the initial shyness. She squints up at him. Hiyori does not have the patience to deal with this bullshit and slaps his hand away. 'Take a hint!' She turns over and flops like a dead fish. 'Ignorance is bliss. For her he shall no longer exist.' She could feel her mother's glare burn her back and almost her the why-are-you like-this-and-where-have-gone-wrong-with-this-child lecture coming when they get home. 'Mother dearest, if only you knew.' Kouto pokes and shakes her more.

"Fujisaki-kun, I'm this close to strangling you." Hiyori brought her index and thumb together. Her patience was running low. The other three fingers outstretched. The gap between her index finger and thumb was closing until it no longer existed.

"Uhmm... Iki-chan? They are... touching?" Kouto asks unsurely. There was dread and there was fear. "Exactly!" Hiyori exclaims in a cheerful voice that turns into a sinister growl "_**Run**_!" and launches herself at him without any further warning. By then he was already out of her range and she still chased after him. It appealed to the predator in her. 'Run you little bastard. Run! Mwahahaha.' She was closing in. Kouto turns left and she slams into him, wrestling him to the ground. "Got you!" Her fingers found his stomach and Hiyori extracts her revenge for disrupted sleep. Kouto is laughing like crazy, helplessly batting her fingers away from his stomach like a newborn kitten trying to stop her tickling attack. When she has her fill, she lets him catch his breath.

"You're rude!" He accuses her, gasping heavily.

"_You_ are rude!" Hiyori counters creatively, making sure to sit on him with her entire weight. She was acting childish. She was fed up with all the poking and prodding, interrupted naps and shattering her beautiful denial. 'If she could get anymore fed up with people, she'd be the utter definition of a cannibal.' Hiyori jokes.

Suddenly a though occurs to her. Beneath her is a child, a human body...something in her brain just equaled that to meat pillow... pillow... bed... sleep? Hiyori lays her head on Kouto's chest close to his shoulder. She closes her eyes and starts copying the famous narcolepsy sleep shtick like nobody's business. "Snooze." The last thing she hears is her mother's shout. "Hiyori don't you dare!" Beneath her a squirming _pillow_ was trying to escape. It doesn't make a good pillow. Her muscles slack and she lets it go.

—

Thank you for reading.


	3. Chapter 3

**3**

**To walk the fine Line**

By SilentForest21

Summary:

What a familiar world I've reincarnated into and yet it's not mine. My name Iki Hiyori... I've heard it from somewhere in my past life before. Now if only my body could make up its mind whether it wants my soul or not. A world wherein Hiyori is similar to Father and yet not. The world shifts two feet to the left as she causes more calamity before canon. "Don't worry Yakkun, this is an organized mess. Take a seat and enjoy the ride you never wanted." SI-Hiyori

Fandom: Noragami

Rating: M

Genre: Family, Spiritual

Characters: Iki Hiyori, Yato (Yaboku), Father, OC

Disclaimer: I don't own Noragami. I don't claim any liability for the validity of any information. This is for nonprofit use only.

—

**Chapter 3: Shinki-Iki Hiyori**

Shizune remembers Tenjin's offer to accept her as his shinki. She toys with the idea. He could provide her with a stable roof over her head unlike Yato. Regular meals unlike Yato. Cloths unlike Yato. She just wants stability. She chews her lips nervously. There was nothing wrong with wanting that. 'There is no going back.' Shizune reminded herself. She quits.

"Yato-san. We need to talk. I'm quitting. I don't want to be your shinki anymore. Please release me." Shizune requests and bows. Yato was not surprised. She wouldn't be the first neither was she the last shinki to quit on him. "W-wait! Can't we talk this through?" He tries to discourage her. Her burst into tears. "No! Stop! I can't take this anymore!" Yato was weak to a woman's tears. He wants to cry too. Yato brings up his hand into a sign. His index and middle finger were glowing. "Yaki, I release you." He abides.

Yato needs a new shinki.

...

Hiyori was still sporting her red sports jersey from high school with white stripes on the side, despite graduating from high school. It was her everyday cloths now. She wears the jacket open with a white shirt beneath it. The sleeves were pushed up to the elbow. The pants were folded up to mid-calf length. A small, black waist bag extended her pocket's capacity. Tucked into her side the spray bottle of holy doom hooked onto the waist bag.

She made sure to remove any semblance of a school emblem and embroidered a Sig Salua lotus flower in front of a Red Spider Lily in its place on her left jacket chest. Both were flowers of the dead. It represented her well. Her feet sported a pair of peach-orange sports shoes with some white outline. Her long hair was kept in a half up half down style. All together her cloths reminded her of the Visord Sarugaki Hiyori from Bleach. What a coincidence that they shared more than a name and dressed similarly.

Hiyori was surprised that Japanese parenting meant that young children could go anywhere in theory without their parents supervision. Some children younger than four were even sent accompanied by a year older sibling to buy groceries in their neighborhood. It was peculiar. Nobody blinked an eye when she walked from home on her own for the first time to visit the library. Instead she was praised and encouraged further to be independent.

'WTF?'—Were her thoughts on average. Was there no supervision for toddlers? Talk about culture shock.

The second time she visited the library on her own, nobody seemed to notice her. It was only once she returned home and entered her room, that she found the answer. Her body laid on the floor. Her soul had slipped out. Hiyori slips back in.

'Did meeting Yato early on, trigger the universe to try to knock her soul out of her body earlier than canon or was it something else?'

The third time she tries to visit the library, an ayakashi attacks her. She had been taking the usual route to the library.

"**Smells good."** Hiyori has been hearing this line a lot lately. 'Was it due to her shinki kanji?' It hadn't been a problem before. They usually identified her as one of them but lately she isn't so sure anymore.

A huge ass Lochness monster suddenly appeared around the corner and spotted her. **"Smells good."** Its tongue slipped out, licked its lips and started chasing her through the streets. "Hiiiiiiiiiiiihhhhhhaaaaaa...!" She ran. She had left her body at home again. It was easier to sneak out like that and she felt less guilty about worrying her parents. For some odd reason Hiyori could run faster than she could in her actual body. 'Was it because her spirit form was an adult version of her younger self? She felt weightless.'

Lochness was closing in. Dust was rising behind it. Hiyori was breathing heavily. The ayakashi made a nose dive and she quickly jumped to the right, surfing into a small alley way.

"A dead end!" She shrieked. 'No way! Her luck couldn't be this bad!' Her instincts turned from flight to fight. She turned around, facing the monster. Her legs were shaking. It launched at her. "STAY AWAY!" She threw out her hand desperately.

Her fingers instinctively formed a sign. Index and middle finger stretched out pressed together. The rest her fingers tucked in. And drew a line — **"Rwaaoorrrww." **The beast hissed. Its head shaking wildly. She had drawn the line on the beast instead of between her and them. Lochness slammed its head into the nearby wall dislodging more dust. 'That's right. She was a shinki. How could she forget?' Hiyori didn't wait to see what happened to the ayakashi. Adrenaline ran in her veins. She jumped over the wall that had previously been an obstacle for her. Her wings unfolded and moved in sync. Wind filled her wings. She didn't look back to see if it followed her. 'Since when could she jump this high? Let alone fly?' Hiyori forgets that she wasn't in her human body. 'She needed to get used to this. The original Hiyori could jump this high without problem.' Behind her dust rose again.

Her previous stunt had only bought her a precious few seconds. **"Kraaoowwkk! Rwwaaaoor!" **The beast was closing in again. 'Where can she go? Where is she safe?!' Her mind flashes to her past life. In her mind she saw Natsume Takashi from Natsume Yuujinchou run to a temple. _'When I was smaller, I used to run to nearby shrines whenever ayakashi chased me. They can't enter holy grounds.'_ She hears Takashi's voice explaining. 'Stupid! Just because it works in one anime doesn't mean it would work in another!' Hiyori admonishes herself but at this point she was willing to give anything a try. Then she remembers Yato explaining in the anime shortly after acquiring Yukine that shrine ground were safe from ayakashi. 'A Shrine! So it was true! She needs to get to a shrine! Where was the closest?! She can't see any on the horizon! Where was she even?'

At this point Hiyori was flying in wild patterns to avoid the snapping maul of Lochness. Her rapid eye movements caught a landmark she knew well. 'The ramen restaurant! It was on the way to her middle school! Was there any shine nearby?! Where?! Whose?! Tenjin-sama's? No— Bishamonten's was closer!' Hiyori flew in a loop and dived around the corner. She landed hiding in the shadow of the building. Her back pressed against the wall. She tried to catch her breath.

Hiyori peeked around the corner. 'Bishamonten-sama's shrine was behind the ayakashi. She needed to get around the ayakashi to get there.' She attempts to take an alleyway again, only for the monster to crash in sideways an attempt to get her, cutting off her earthbound way. It had missed her barely. Lochness' teeth had cut into her forearm shallowly. Blood quelled foreword and the blight began spreading. Dust fills her vision as its large body hits another building. With little choice Hiyori takes to the air again.

Above the dust cloud only she could see, she saw people casually walking down the streets, unaware of the monster in their midst. In a last ditch of effort Hiyori makes a dive for the shrine. Lochness slams into an invisible wall she passed without issues. She lands roughly in a tree. Her wings on her back caught a thick branch, paralyzing her. She bounces off and Hiyori's stomach landed on a bush. That was going to bruise. She recovers from her paralysation. The small hard branches causes more scratches to appear on her body as she tries to extract herself only to drop on to the stone hard ground. Another rough landing as she rolls her to bleed off her momentum until her back hits the shrine building, paralyzing her once more. Her 'wings' were her 'chord', an inconvenience for every time she lands on her back. She still marvels at her wireless-ness and that her 'wings' were usable as proper flying apparatus of the body.

Hiyori stays half-lying half-sitting with her back against the wall of the building, as she watches the ayakashi bang against the invisible barrier in an attempt to get to her. 'She was safe.' Hiyori breathed out, still breathing heavily. Loud drums that were her heartbeat filled her ears. "**Krwwaaaoor!"** Lochness screeches again.

After a long eternity her heavy breath has calmed down. Her heart was still loud in her ears. 'What should she do?! If the ayakashi doesn't leave, she will have to stay here forever! She's scared! She does not fancy getting eaten! Think! Who would help her? Bishamonten? Yeah right. Of course she could go up to the shrine and start screaming out her name and Bishamonten would help her. No! She didn't want to owe Bishamonten a debt yet. Not with the future battle between Bishamonten and Yato. Not if Bishamonten could find out that she was Yato's. She couldn't call Yato either. She couldn't take the risk. She was lucky in a way. No way would Yato ever entertain the idea of approaching Bishamonten's shrine. It was best he stayed away. She should have picked Tenjin-sama's shrine instead.' Hiyori regrets.

'It would have been just a bit further away but at least she knew Yato would have helped if she was at the Tenjin shrine. Here...? She was on her own. Could Yato feel her distress? Probably. He felt Yukine's after all. She will have to slay it herself before he comes. He can't come here. Bishamonten will kill him. Could a shinki even _do_ anything on their own?' Hiyori hates this situation. At least she was safe.

Her hand curls into a sign again. "Draw a line..." She mumbles. Another part if her asks. 'How?' She observes the ayakashi circling her, hoping for a clue. Lochness was green, blue patterns decorates its skin. Over its large right eye was a bleeding wound inhibiting its sight. 'Did she do that with her barrier line back in the alley? So she _could_ wound it. If she can wound it, she could defeat it.' Hiyori felt hope. "Draw a line... Draw a line between you and them. The feeling of revulsion creates a barrier." She mumbles, repeating the half remembered instructions Yato provided his future shinki Yukine with in the anime from her past life. 'How would drawing a line between them help her current situation? A barrier line would hold it up but sooner or later the ayakashi would catch up to her!' She tried to draw one on the ayakashi again. Nothing comes out. She looked stupid waving her hand midair. The one time something came out was when the ayakashi slammed into the barrier startling her. She fires one. Hiyori misses. It does not hit. To her the situation seemed hopeless now.

'Back to square one. She needs a new plan. Now is not time to give up. Where there is a will, there is a way! Think. What was she feeling when she managed to draw a line? Fear? No. Revulsion? No. Desperation? Yes. That has to be the answer. Desperation!' Hiyori observers the ayakashi again, desperately trying to come up with a plan. The ayakashi's constant movement and the sun shining from above made it difficult to see anything useful. The sun was blinding her. Lady luck was on her side. A small cloud covered the sun briefly, throwing a shadow on the large ayakashi. She caught a glimpse. The tiny cloud drifts away. Her only line attack on the ayakashi only injured the soft tissue of its eye. The hard steel scales around the eye was unblemished. 'Her barrier line was too weak to cut through its armor skin. She won't be able to slay it on her own like this. She needs another plan.'

The blighted wound on Hiyori's arm was stinging, slowly spreading. Her adrenaline had faded. Wasn't it ridiculous that the slightest graze from an ayakashi could cause so much pain? It called for her immediate attention. 'Shrine water... She needed shrine water! That's it! Shrine water burns ayakashi. It could slow it down. Yato had used it in the anime too. He had kept it in a plastic bottle. She still had her spray bottle of holy doom. If she could slow the ayakashi down enough, maybe she could get to Tenjin shrine safely and Yato could help her!' Hiyori gathers up some energy to stand and hurries to the shrine well, grabs the ladle and pours some water on her wound and the blight. She hisses as it recedes, as she repeats her previous action until it was all gone. Next she refills her spray bottle of holy doom (TM). 'The water in the spray bottle was not going to be enough. She'll need more containers if she wants to be able to slow the phantom down.' Hiyori looks around. 'The trashcan. Say _yay_ to a round of dumpster diving.' She digs out anything that could hold water.

Three empty small half a liter flat pressed pet plastic bottles, seven plastic bags in various sizes and a plastic take out ramen bowl. She re-inflates the bottles as best as she can with a stick she had picked up from the tree she crashed into earlier when landing and filled them with the shrine water, repeating the same thing with six of the smaller plastic bags before tying them close. Holding a plastic bag that once held a goldfish, now it was filled with shrine water, she wonders what she could start with it. Throwing it up in the air and catching it again. Testing its weight. '200 grams' She estimates. Once she missed the catch and it fell on the floor splitting open and splashed all over the ground.

"Eureka! This is it! Water balloons fight!" Hiyori eyes sparkled as she eyes the last plastic bag. It was the largest. 'She estimates that about 10 liters could fit in there without any problem. The only issue was the end weight. Ten kilos. She can't throw that. Neither could she fly fast enough with it. It would have to become her opening move. If she could however get above the ayakashi for a moment, she could drop it like a bomb.'

Her plan was a hit and run tactic. The initial bomb wouldn't suffice to stop the ayakashi. She eyes the five smaller plastic bags of shrine water. 'No they won't be enough. Hadn't she seen some sandwich paper bags in the trash?' She retrieves another four bags. 'The water would soak through the paper bags fast. She could use them. She'll need to use the paper bags first before the plastic bags.' Hiyori plans further. She unfolds her wings and flies to the shrine's highest point. In the crown of the tree she observes the ayakashi coming at her. It strikes the shrine's barrier. "Five meters." Hiyori murmured. "The shrine barrier ends five meters above its highest point."

She takes inventory. 'She has half a liter of shrine water in her spray bottle of holy doom (TM) or BOSHD for Bottle Of Sprayed Holy Doom (Yes she just rearranged the order of the words so that letters of the acronym sounds better.), 1.5 liter distributed among the 3 pet bottles each containing half a liter, 1kg of shrine water distributed among 5 plastic bags weighing about 200g each, 4 empty paper-bags she has yet to fill with water and a 10kg water balloon bomb. How was she going to transport all that? She doesn't have enough arms to hold and use them at the same time!' Looking around, she noticed there isn't any sturdy bag lying around. The wind blows and her jersey flutters behind her. 'The sun was hot.' She noted and took off her jersey's jacket. A thought strikes her 'She could make a bag out of this.' Quickly she lays it in the floor and zips up the jacket. Next she grabbed the long sleeve and tied them together to make a sling. "A way to transport my arms." She sighed.

First things last. 'The BOSHD needed to be re-adjusted. Right now it only sprays mist. Which is great when the phantom is tiny but not when it comes to dear Lochness. No she was not growing fond of that menace. Shut up.' Hiyori turns the vent at the front and gives a couple test sprays. A ray of water shoots out. "Range: 2 meters. It's too short." She screws the vent open more. "Range: 2.8 meters. Better. It's the limit. It could be better." Hiyori screws around more but eventually concedes before she has a new idea. She covers the opening with her finger and pumps. Pressure builds up in the BOSHD. She pumps one last time before removing her finger. The water shoots out further. "4 meters!" She smiles satisfied at the range. 'She's glad she didn't choose a water gun over the BOSHD. If she did she wouldn't be able to adjust it to her liking. Water guns are not ideal for misty-ing.' She continues squirting out water with her BOSHD. 'How many charges of water does she have?' The squirt bottle empties. '28 shots, she would make it count.' Hiyori refills the BOSHD to its full capacity.

All set, she quickly fills the paper bags with water and packs her weapons into her jersey jacket turned bag, slinging it on her shoulder and hooked her spray bottle of holy doom into the loop of her black waist bag on her hip where it usually rests. The bag on her right side, the sling on her left shoulder. The top and bottom openings of her jacket held close by her right hand. In her left hand the 10kg water bag bomb. Hiyori flies to the highest point again and waits. The phantom has to get into position. 'The phantom flies in an 8 form at the barrier. She needs the ayakashi to be between her and the Tenjin shrine and it has to be in its furthest turn to charge at the barrier again. The moment it charges at her she has to be at a higher point in the air to drop the bomb and head to the Tenjin while the ayakashi's momentum is carried onwards further behind her in its injured state.' Seconds pass. The water slowly soaks through the paper bags. It's in position. Hiyori now armed, leaves the safety of the barrier. The battle is on!

The beast was charging at her. Hiyori charged at a 45 degree slope. The phantom was under her in 5...4...3...2...1... and she dropped her 10kg shrine water bomb. It shrieked and clawed at itself as the shrine's water splashed over it. Its charging momentum carried it further away from her. Her wings caught a favorable air current as she was thrown off-balance by the sudden loss of weight. She rights herself and her three pairs of wings start beating in sync.

Whenever the ayakashi would come close, she would chuck a smaller water bomb at it. Dust rose behind Lochness as it tried to dive for her again. The ayakashi knocks into another building. Hiyori had already used up three paper bag bombs. 'She hasn't even reached the half way point. The ayakashi recovers and was after her again. At this rate the nine shrine water bombs will not last her the entire way.' She aims her last paper water bomb at the ayakashi as it came too close. The paper tears and water splashes on its skin.

"**Kwaaaaaaoorrrk!"** It shrieks and knocks into more buildings. Temporary blindness. Her shrine water bomb had hit its other eye. Lochness trashes around. Its behavior and loud shrill howls calling reinforcements. "Fuck!" Which translates to 'Duck the shit out of this!' Hiyori ducks and drops from the air onto the ground. Another ayakashi has appeared, responding to Lochness's calls. It was a purple praying mantis. Its arm swiped at Hiyori from her right side and she jumped up over it and took to the air again. Digging out her first plastic bag shrine water bomb, she throws it at the insect. It was fast and her bomb missed, splashing uselessly on the concrete. 'Shit! She had wasted one precious bomb. The mantis was too fast. She won't be able to use the bombs effectively.' Instead she grabs out a half liter bottle, turns around, unscrews the cap and swung an arch of water at them. She has still some water in it. She swipes another arch of water at them. It hits and they hiss. 'She can't keep ruining her momentum. She needs to get to the Tenjin shrine fast!' She chucks the bottle at them. Their eyes follow its fall. The mantis swipes at the bottle, cutting it open and spilling the shrine's water over them. Hiyori used this distraction and flew for the shrine.

Half way point. The lovely mantis and wonderful Lochness have recovered and are chasing after her. Lochness seemed to have slowed down from its injuries. The mantis was still going strong. Having joined their party late, it was still fresh as a pile of bullshit. She chucks a water bomb at the marine creature after her not bothering to see if it hit. Hiyori grabbed another bottle. It had a pull-plug cover. 'The previous bottle only provided three water slashes with its large opening. With this pull-plug cover she could get at least five out of this one. She loves it. She should invest in this types of bottles too. She wouldn't use it yet.' She puts it away and grabs the other bottle with the ordinary cover. While she was occupied with inventory, the mantis had snuck up on her and backhanded her into a building. Hiyori crashed into an abandoned shed and landed painfully on an old rusty car. She quickly rolled off the car to the side, just in time as the arm of the mantis pierced the car's hood. 'That could have been her.' She gulped. The mantis was looming over her. She unscrews the bottle and used water slash in an upward arc. The water hit the insect's sensitive antennas and it trashes around. Not bothering to waste time Hiyori quickly got up and escaped to the side door taking to the sky once more. She caps the bottle and puts it away. 'Two more shots.' She estimates.

'Her life sucks!' She was flying into the direction of the Tenjin shrine when she spotted another ayakashi coming at her from below the street. Behind her, Lochness has spotted her again. The new ayakashi was an alarm clock. She drop kicks it, before smashing a water bomb in its face point blank. 'No thanks. She _does_ _not_ need a wakeup call.' Lochness was closing in. She only had two more bombs left. 'No plan survives contact with the enemy. Would she make it?' Hiyori speeds off towards the shrine. She felt something coming at her from behind and leaned to her right. It missed. The marine monster had opened its mouth and shot a pressurized water bullet at her. The bullet hits a nearby tree snapping it in half. "Holy sh*t-ake! It could shoot water all this time?!" Hiyori exclaims in panic. Her flight movements became erratic as she dodges to her best, keeping her back towards the shrine. 'She was _sooo_ dead. Again, there has to be a joke somewhere. She had died multiple times already.'

Three-quarter mark. Lochness was charging at her again. The ayakashi was slower. She threw another water bomb. It hits its snout, causing the beast to trash around again, knocking into buildings. Dust rose up to cover her escape for the short moment. The shrine water burned its nose, blinding its sense of smell. The Tenjin shrine was less than 100 meters away from her now. The praying mantis has rejoined the game. Its large shadow dropkicked her into a dumpster in the alley. Hiyori picks herself out and starts running down the alley, avoiding the mantis's strikes. Her breath was heavy. She turns right only to find the alarm clock she had dropkicked earlier launching itself at her. Her momentum from her rightwards turn carried her left shoulder into its mouth. It bites down hard. "Hhaaaaarrrgggghhh!" Hiyori screamed in pain. The blight was spreading. She pulled open the pull-push cap of the hidden bottle in her makeshift bag with her right hand and squeezed. The water shot out and hits the ayakashi in its face and it released its teeth. Hiyori took to the sky again to avoid it. She pushes the cap of the bottle close again.

She was so close. The temple was 40 meters away. The distance seemed larger to her. The winds have changed. She flew trying to ride the air currents that were not in her favor. '10 meters... 9... 8... 7... 6... 5...' The mantis interrupts her with a launch. Hiyori spins out of the way. She grabs the normal capped bottle of shrine water and threw it at the ayakashi. It cuts it apart and splashes the water on its exoskeleton. It hisses.

Hiyori was breathing heavily. '4... 3... 2... almost there! What the...? Why was she suddenly so slow? Was this the work of the alarm clock ayakashi?' Her shoulder wound throbbed. Blood staining her white shirt. Lochness is back again. A water bullet clips her leg providing momentum and she is blasted onto shrine grounds. The barrier stopped the water bullet. Hiyori lands on the shrine's roof on her back. Her head facing towards the floor, her legs towards the steeper top side of the roof. 'Argh, W-what an awkward landing. Her back was paralyzed again.' After awhile she recovers and tries to sit in a more comfortable position.

She needs to call Yato. The blight of her shoulder wound was spreading. Calling Yato could wait. Her wound needs some treatment first. She fishes out her last bottle of shrine water, excluding the BOSHD. Hiyori unplugged it and squeezed it on her wound. She removed her slinged jacket with some difficulty, setting the makeshifts bag aside. Next she peeled off her shirt and hissed. 'Gawwd! It hurts so much!' Tears burst from her eyes. She squirts more shrine water to wash away the blood. 'It was a good thing that this was not her physical body. She wouldn't have survived this so far if it was.' Hiyori tore her shirt until midriff and used the rest as a bandage, placing one end in her mouth and wrapping the wound with her other as best as she can. She puts on her blood stained midriff shirt again, hiding the bandages and sets to untie her jersey's sleeves. Her leg only suffered bruising from the water bullet. The blight spreading slower there. She squirts some shrine water on the blight and hisses. After treating her wound she takes in inventory. One plastic bag shrine water bomb remained alongside the half used squirt drinking bottle not including her full Bottle Of Sprayed Holy Doom (TM).

Hiyori tied her jersey's sleeves around her waist and moved to get down from the roof. She jumped. Her injured right leg gives way as she lands and she tucks herself into a roll. With great difficulty she pushes herself up and gets off the ground. 'If she was going to be anywhere safer, it was going to be at the well of shrine water.' Hiyori limps to the well and slumps to sit on the edge. 'She needed to call Yato. Tenjin-sama is a non-combatant.' Her right hand unzips her black waist pouch and pulls out her sky blue flip phone. 'How she longs for a smartphone...' She dials the Yato's number. "How did it go again? 080- And then?... I think it was 0919-? Followed by... 0081 maybe? No that's not quite right 8100? Yes... That may be it." She tries to remember. 080-0919-8100. She held the phone to her ear. It begins ringing.

...

Yato was _not_ sulking. Another shinki had left him for a more benevolent benefactor. He hated Tenjin sometimes. He can't fault his ex-shinki. It was not the first time they have taken each other's shinki. He still remembers his second shinki Sakura whom Tenjin had released in a fit of rage several centuries ago and young Yato had employed not understanding what it meant to have a shinki that didn't spoil him like Hiiro(Nora) did and yet spoiled his childish side. He was lost in his memories.

Shizune has now taken on the name Nayu. He does not grief her. Yato sighs deeply. He was sitting on a bench in the park. His phone rings. 'He doesn't recognize the number. A Job finally!' It was an hour before sunset.

"Hello, Thank you for calling. Fast, affordable and reliable! Delivery God Yato, at your service!" He greets in a cheerful voice, hiding his sorrow.

"_Yato! It's me Hiyori! Umm you see... I need some help. I'm at the Tenjin Shrine."_ It's a voice he recognizes. 'A repeat customer!' A cause to cheer up. He flashes to her side.

He found her slumped by the well side. Her shirt was bloody. Hiyori was never so glad to see Yato before. He spotted the blood and looked worried. "Don't worry! I have treated it. Yato, I have a job for you." Her right hand reached into her unzipped waist pouch and digs around. Her fingers found her wallet, flicked it open and withdraws a five yen coin. She closes everything before handing Yato the coin. "I need you to get rid of those ayakashi, so I can leave in peace. Please." Belatedly she noticed Yato not accepting the coin. He came alone. "Where is Shizune?" Hiyori asks, grabbing his hand to drop the coin in. "She quitted."

"Oh... Um... You won't be able to fight the ayakashi without a shinki." Yato passed the coin back into her hands.

"Yeah. I know. I'm god after all." He says listlessly as he watches the three ayakashi. It was odd that they were out on such a sunny day. It wasn't even sunset yet. The ayakashi shouldn't be out and yet they were. 'From the way Hiyori looks, they may have been attacking her in day light. It was unusual.'

"Yato, use me."

"What?!"

"I'm your shinki too, remember? Use me." She repeats. 'How could he forget? What was her name again?' Yato wrecks his brain.

"Call my name." Hiyori passes him the five yen coin. This time Yato accepts. "Your wish has been heard loud and clear. May our fates intervene forever." He flips the coin.

"Come Naki!" Yato recalls, holding out his hand. Hiyori is engulfed in a light and reappears as a Gewehr 43 Rifle with a Mondragón muzzle, a bayonet blade attached to it. Yato was thrown off course. 'He had wielded many shinki over the millennia of his existence, yet none were as bizarre as Hiyori. He doesn't know what to make of her.'

Yato sets to work. He wields her as a short spear using only the bayonet to carve into the praying mantis. It was fast, Yato was faster. "You who desecrate this land of the rising sun! I, Yatogami, now lay waste with the Naki and expel thy vast defilement!" He slashes. "Rend!"

Yato heads for the alarm clock next. "Careful Yato, don't let it touch you! I can slow down your time!" Hiyori warns. "Rend!" It was no match either. 'Did she really have such a hard time last now?'

Lochness screeched again. **"Smells good."** It spits out a water bullet and another one and a rapid rain of bullets. Yato dodges, spinning out of their way, sometimes even cutting them with a slash. A bullet clips him. Blight spreads. The ayakashi was keeping its distance. 'Yato can't hit it if he continues to use the rifle bayonet as a spear.' He continues to weave through the hail of bullets. "Yato, Watch out!" A bullet heads for him. 'Yato won't be able to dodge this!' Hiyori closes her eyes, preparing for the impact and wishes they get out of this alive. An unknown energy bursts from her. The bullet hits something and dust explodes.

When the dust cleared from their vision, a green translucent sphere of hexagon, reminisced of a football pattern, surrounded them protectively as they levitated in midair. They were unharmed. 'D-did _she_ do this?' Yato moved the bayonet rifle into position, when he noticed something peculiar about the green barrier. A darker shade rimmed the lighter green ring with a cross in it and it was following the tip of the rifle. 'Is that an aim guidance? And the words on the side...information?' Meanwhile Hiyori was dealing with a headache due to a sudden flood of information.

—

**Location: Tenjin Shrine, Tokyo, Japan**

**Enemies in range: 1**

**Hostages in range: 0**

**Unknown in range: 2**

**Wind speed: 5km/h**

**Air pressure: 1026 hPa**

**Humidity: 60%**

**Temperature: 26 Degrees Celsius**

**Time: 17:38**

**Sunrise: 6:09**

**Sunset: 20:24**

**UV Index: 2.8**

**Weather: Sunny with few clouds and little chance of rain.**

**Allies:**

**Tenjin**

**Party members:**

**Yato/Yaboku**

**Iki Hiyori**

—

Yato touches his name and a tab opens up. He startles. Time outside the bubble pauses. 'How?!'

**(x)—**

**Name: Yato/Yaboku (****夜ト****)**

**Level: 461**

**Title: Yatogami**

**Race: Kami (God)**

**Age: 1056 Years old**

**Gender: Male**

**Hair: Dark blue/ black**

**Eyes: Blue**

**Occupation:**

**God of War**

**God of Calamity**

**God of Depravity**

**Delivery God**

**Background: An obscure god who has been labeled a God of Calamity and Depravity in the past. Yato's dream is to become a famous god, whom everyone worships.**

**Description: Yato appears to be an extremely handsome young man whose height is 174cm (5'8"), physically appearing as a young adult of around 18 to early '20s. He is often seen wearing a navy tracksuit that has a small golden crown on the left side (his point of view), and a pair of brown leather boots. A recognizable feature of his is a faded blue scarf. He has athazagoraphobia and abandonment issues.**

**Personality: mischievous, crude, childish, gullible, wise, mysterious and unpredictable.**

**Currency: 18'165¥**

**Health: 80/100**

**Energy: 60/100**

**STR: 54**

**VIT: 95**

**DEX: 63**

**INT: 57**

**WIS: 85**

**LUK: 3 (-)**

**WIL: 89**

**Skills:**

**All-rounder Handyman**

**Artist**

**White collar skills**

**Limited Immortality**

**Teleportation**

**Divine possession**

**Master Swordsman**

**Severance (Zetsu): severe ties of people or memories**

**Rend (Zan): destroy ayakashi**

—

Yato closes his tab by tapping the cross on the top left and repeats the same thing with Hiyori's name. 'That was too much information on himself. His luck sucks.'

**(x)—**

**Name: Iki Hiyori (****壹岐日和****)**

**Level: 13**

**Title: None**

**Race: Human**

**Transmigrated Soul,**

**Hanyo (Half-Ayakashi)**

**Age:**

**267 Years old in soul**

**4 Years old physically**

**Gender: Female**

**Hair: Dark brown/ black**

**Eyes: Pink**

**Occupation: Student, Shinki, Hanyo**

**Background: Hiyori a transmigrated soul, has gone through several reincarnations in the past. She enjoys living and often dreams of peaceful days.**

**Description: Hiyori appears physically as a young child of about 5 years old. As a spirit she appears about 18 years old. Her hair done in a half-up half-down fashion. She is often spotted wearing a red sports jersey (like Sarugaki Hiyori does) in both forms with a white lotus flower in front of a spider lily embroidered on her left chest. (From her point of view) Her jersey is left unzipped revealing a white shirt beneath. The sleeves of the jersey is folded up to the elbow, the pants folded up to mid-calf. She wears a pair of peach-orange sports shoes with some white outlines.**

**Her recognizable feature is a small, black waist pouch with a squirt spray bottle hooked to it. She affectionately dubs that bottle The Bottle Of Sprayed Holy Doom or BOSHD (TM) for short.**

**Personality: lazy, literally, sarcastic, serious, saccharine, insane, bookworm, blunt, ambitious and adorkable**

**Currency: 27649¥**

**Health: 20/100**

**Energy: 10/100**

**STR: 7(62)**

**VIT: 2(45)**

**DEX: 6(79)**

**INT: 68**

**WIS: 43**

**LUK: 52**

**WIL: 45**

**Skills:**

**Carpenter**

**Craftswoman**

**Artisan**

**Business ITC**

**Unconventional Thoughts**

**Green thumb**

—

Yato closed Hiyori's tab. He knows several things now.

He doesn't know what to make of her personality.

Her luck was insane.

She was not feeling well. She was tired.

Time resumes and the remaining ayakashi spat another hail of water bullet. Most of the bullets bounced of the green barrier. Some managed to shatter some of the translucent hexagons making up the barrier, hitting and piercing Yato.

"Yato, shoot!" Hiyori screamed. He tried to aim the rifle at the ayakashi. "Auto aim, lock on." He hears Hiyori announce and suddenly his arms were not his alone. They moved. He pulled the trigger. "Rend!"

**BAAAM**

A tiny light shot out, hit the ayakashi dead on and exploded like a firework. The Lochness ayakashi was no more.

They land on the ground. The rest if the barrier sphere shattered around him.

"Revert, Hiyori!" The bayonet rifle returned into a girl. She was sitting on the ground. Hiyori tried to stand up and Yato assisted. "Thank you Yato." They move to the well of shrine water so that Yato could clean his blights from the water bullets she failed to protect him from.

She tried to stand on her own and limped her first step, trying to get home. Only for her injured leg to give out on her. Yato squats down, offering her his back. "C'mon, I'll get you home." She accepts, too tired to argue otherwise.

Their walk to her home was silent. They slip into her room. Her young body was in the same position as she left it surrounded by books. She seemed to have fallen asleep while reading. Yato helps her slip in. Hiyori feels claustrophobic when she enters her body. The height difference was disorientating. Her chest felt too tight.

"See you later, Hiyori." Yato move to leave. Her hands caught his sleeve. "Stay." She tugs. Hiyori moved to shove her books off her bed to make room to convince him to stay. 'No way was she going to sleep alone. She'll get eaten by ayakashi. Same thing with Yato. He shouldn't wander around at night when he doesn't have a proper shinki near him. He'll be ayakashi fodder. She was the closest thing to a shinki that he has!'

"Stay. It's dark now. The ayakashi are especially active now. You won't have a shinki with you, if you go out now—" Her eyes narrowed suggesting something sinister. "You're food."

Yato weights the pros and cons of staying or leaving, eventually giving a nod, conceding to her point. "Don't worry, I'm sure I'll taste fantastic. They won't even get an indigestion." She sighs, chuckling softly. "That I don't doubt. Take seat, Yato. Let me get the medical kit."

Hiyori heads down the stairs into the kitchen. 'Yato smells so good. She could understand why the ayakashi would want to eat him. She'd be licking him too, if she had less control over herself.' It was late and her mother had already packed the leftovers away. She digs around the fridge for the rice balls she knows are for her. Hiyori does not hesitate to grab the grilled fish and the pickled vegetables either and throws them into the microwave to reheat.

She places it all on a tray and fills two cups of water before grabbing a two pairs of chopsticks and two bowls. Hiyori carefully balances the tray up the stairs. She quickly ducks into the bathroom to pull out the medic kit and places the tray on it, carrying all of it to her room. "Come baring offerings to the Yatogami." She jokes and places the tray down. Yato's eyes sparkle. 'His first offerings from a living human!' She hands him his portion and sits down to help herself to her rice balls.

"So you know how to treat a god. Clearly you recognize my brilliance and should throw yourself to the ground to worship me! Soon I will ha..." They were eating on her bedroom floor. She tunes him out as he starts rambling about his future shrine and wife. "Hey! Hiyori! Are you listening?!" Yato demands her attention, as he fixes his wounds. She just mumbles some half remembered sentences he had said in the anime. "Huge shrine by the train station with modern bathroom, six shrine maidens tending to your every needs, beautiful wife to warm your glass cold heart?" Yato takes her deadpan as a permission to tell her more about his nefarious plans for the future. "And then I'll h..."

A curious question has been burning her throat for awhile now. She has always wanted to ask a non-human _The Ever Most Famous Most Important Monkey D. Luffy Question. (TM) _"Yato?" She interrupts him. "This is a very important question regarding your future... please answer seriously..." She pauses for dramatic effects as Yato pays her his complete attention.

"Can you poop?"

She asks, already knowing the answer. She carefully makes sure her faced remained curious looking in order to hide the fact that she was laughing herself dead. Oh wait. She was dead. There has to be skull-joke somewhere.

"Gods don't poop." Yato replied confidently. His hands on his hips with his elbow pointed outwards. Hearing the answer again in this life in persona, her brain had another short circuit. 'Nope! It still did not make sense.'

"In that case... do gods have an anus and if yes, may I inspect yours?"

"This is sexual harassment!" If there was a table in front of them, Yato would have flipped it and hid behind it. Humans are weird. Hiyori takes the cake.

"Really. If you don't shit, why would you have a hole in your ass? It serves no purpose!" It was a legitimate question. He hugs his body protectively, eyeing her suspiciously. Rightfully too. She might jump him any moment. He could _feel_ his shinki's intentions. She looks at her rice ball as if it held all the answers of the world. Yato picks up his chopsticks and begins eating.

"On a more serious note—" Yato looks at her wearily. "Where does all the food that you have eaten go to? Do gods even require food as sustenance?" Hiyori inquires.

"Why? The food becomes energy! It's as simple as that!" Yato cheers and digs back into his food, avoiding further awkward conversations. He was not going to refuse an offering. 'Does anybody feel like face palming?' Hiyori was about to found the club. _Recruiting new members, Join now!_

When they finished, Hiyori cleared away the dishes and shoved Yato into the bathroom with a towel and a bathrobe. 'Oh Yato smelled just fine. In fact _too_ good. With _that_ she meant _tasty_. Any ayakashi would be happy to have him. She was more worried about the last time he had a proper shower. All the accumulated germs.' She shudders. He was not getting into her bed before cleaning himself.

The moment he's out, she enters and showers quickly. She hates bathing but she also hates dirt. She returns from the shower in a new white shirt and red jogging pants. The sleeping arrangements were simple. The bed was large. She was physically a child. They shared. 'How long has it been since Yato slept in a bedding?' In the middle of the night she woke up. Yato the rough sleeper had kicked her in the kidney. She kicks him in the face and appropriates his thigh as a pillow in revenge. The next morning Yato was gone.

She was glad she could sleep in. She didn't have school to attend. She had graduated after all. Maybe she should join a ballet or martial art school to kill time until she enters university next year. Her mother would be _delighted_ to know her daughter was opposing her traditional ways. Now she was _tempted_ to do that just to get a rise out of her mother. It wouldn't be the first time she's done it after all.

She got up and tripped. Books littered the ground. 'How long has it been since she had last cleaned her room?' It was a little dusty. She picked a book up. It was Donquixote. 'Why did she even buy this book?' She picked up the rest of her books and returned them to the half empty bookshelf.

Lunch that day was an empty affair. She was alone. Hiyori made herself a bowl of instant udon. Being lonely hurts.

...

It was evening when Yato returned. He lets himself in via the window. "Have you found yourself a shinki today?" Hiyori began. "No hello how are you? Oh I'm just doing fine! Thank you for asking! That's just cold, Hiyori!" Yato whines. She rolls her eyes and humors him. "Hello Yato, how are you doing today?"

"Great! I received a job today! It was to vanquish an ayakashi." Here Yato gets depressed. "But you see... the thing was that I didn't have a shinki handy. You see the problem?"

"Yes. Yato, you seem to be under the impression that shinki should be handy like tools." Hiyori notes, her face buried in one of her books. She knew he was addressing a different problem. Probably. Maybe. Hmm? When in doubt deny, deny and deny. Denial is bliss. 'Mercury could be consumed directly without any lasting damage as the intestine won't absorb it. There is a risk of poisoning though. However if mercury is made organic by adding a carbon atom, the body would absorb it. The metal would then remain in the body, possibly causing some adverse brain chemical reaction that leads to hallucinations and loss of control of the limbs. Which is worse than actual poisoning.' Bio chemistry is fascinatingly entertaining.

Yato sighs deeply. "We've got a job. Come Naki!" So he only came to use her.

"Buzz, I'm on strike! I'm not a tool." Hiyori reads another paragraph in her book. It spoke of the dancing cats in Minamata. 'Apparently a company there had been releasing its mercuric waste water into the bay, poisoning the plants, fish, cats and local population.'

"I need a shinki to work! You are going to help me."

"Buzz. Try again." Hiyori remained stubborn. Turning the page of her book. 'The probable allosteric use of heavy metals in medicine.'

"I don't get what I am apparently doing wrong! There is an ayakashi out there." Yato was getting frustrated. 'Why won't she cooperate? The people are in danger!'

"Buzz. Wrong again. Of course there are ayakashi out there. A shinki is a shinki. But a shinki is also a person. A person has emotions." She gives a hint.

"But a shinki is a divine instrument, a tool. Tools are meant to be used. They don't require emotions. I'm a god. Come Naki!" He was growing desperate.

"Hello doctor, what do you suggest for a treatment for eighth grader syndrome? Yes, you see... there is someone claiming to be a god." She mimics a phone.

"Hiyori! I _**am**_ a god. Doubting me is rude. This is serious!"

"A tool, a shinki may be, but a person a shinki is too. As a person one deserves to be treated as a person and not a tool one could use without regard. A person deserves the basic respect. Try asking politely. If you want your shinki to work with you, I ask you to treat them like a person and not a tool. They will feel more inclined to help your cause." She advised, annoyed with his behavior. She doesn't owe him anything.

"Will you help me with my job?...I need you to be my shinki." Yato tries to request and struggles to say the last word. "Please, Hiyori." That was the best she was going to get.

"Better. :) We'll have to work on this. You may call my name. Let's get to work." They have a long way to go. She sighs and leaves her body.

"Come Naki!"

A bayonet rifle appears. He hops out of the window and heads to the storm.

"You who desecrate this land of the rising sun! I, Yatogami, now lay waste with the Naki and expel thy vast defilement!" His energy fills her. He slashes. "Rend!"

'He was still using her like a spear. How degrading. She's a bayonet _**rifle**_, granted she had a knife attached to the tip, but she was meant to shoot.'

"Revert, Hiyori!"

It was time to go home. "You know, Yato. I won't be around here next year when university begins."

"You're going away?" His abandonment issues shows.

"No not forever. Geez. Just for the next six years. Don't worry, I'll come back." She tries to assure him. Their walk home turns awkward.

"Say, ayakashi can't enter shrine grounds, right. What do you define as the boundary of the shrine grounds? Where does a holy ground begin and where does it end?" She breaks the awkward silence. She remembers Natsume Takashi from Natsume Yuujinchou in her last life, running to even the tiniest shrine to seek protection from ayakashi. 'Would even the tiniest shrine be able to keep ayakashi away?'

"A shrine grounds is usually marked by a Tori gate. Though there are some smaller shrines without. There the boundary is usually defined by what the god defines as to how far it should reach." Yato scratches his head, tussling his hair.

"So while a god is without a shrine..." A 'NO SHRINE' arrow strikes Yato's heart. "...the god is vulnerable to ayakashi. However if the god obtains one, say for example a small portable one. The god would be safe anywhere?"

"No, not really. While a shrine would be a tool to make a holy ground, it still requires regular prayers to uphold its power." Yato explains, looking wishful.

Hiyori only understands that if she builds Yato a shrine, no matter how tiny, it could serve as a medium for him to make a holy ground. 'She could sleep at home without any worries of ayakashi small fries lurking around.' Her eyes gleamed. 'It falls into her role. The original Hiyori had built Yato's first shrine after all.'

...

Yato accompanies her home. "You staying again?" It would be cruel to send him out at this time of the day. "Pardon the intrusion!" He answers and invites himself in instead.

"Looks like you'll be staying the night."

...

"Hiyori, Masaomi, Anata (dear)! Dinner is ready!" Their mother calls.

Hiyori heads down. Yato follows behind. The family crowds around the table. "Anata (dear), your cooking is as good as ever." Iki-sensei praises his wife.

"Ita-takimasu!" They thank the gods for the food. Yato takes this as his signal to sneak food from everyone's plate. Nobody pays him attention. Hiyori was busy claiming oblivion, ignoring the crime in front of her.

"Chichi-ue, Haha-ue" Hiyori addresses. "I would like your permission to attend a mixed martial art class."

"Absolutely not! No daughter of mine will condone to violence and savagery." Her mother shrieked.

"Haha-ue! It's not violence. It's a matter of self-defense!"

"There are plenty if men out there who would protect you. There is no need for you to dabble in foreign arts."

"Those men you say won't be always around and who is not to say that it's exactly those men that have vile indentions. I would be defenseless. Judo and aikido aren't foreign arts. They are great but they are incomplete in certain ways. Mixed martial arts covers the small flaws." She argues and manipulates. It all sounds appealing to her mother.

"You could get injured." Her mother argues weakly.

"I could get injured if I get run over by a car on the road. I could get injured if I trip on the stairs and fell wrongly. Martial arts teaches you grace and how to fall safely, preventing more injuries. With martial arts my reflexion time would become faster, allowing me to move to dodge the incoming car or righten my step on the stairs so that a fall would only be a stumble." Her mother was fighting a losing battle.

"They are traditional arts that teach _discipline_." There the magic word. Her mother readily agreed to sign her up. Masaomi was still eating quietly. Hiyori's attention turned to him and she had a wonderful idea. "Sign him up too. If he doesn't like it he can quit." She pointed at her brother. "After all, what traditional _modern_ Japanese man can't defend themselves?" She provoked. Masaomi glared. He had wanted to try martial arts for awhile but never brought it up. Inwardly he was happy to get a chance to try an art. Hiyori hated gender discrimination. Unfortunately her in her mother's _traditional_ household it was inescapable. She saw her dirty tactics as a necessary evil. Baby steps. She will wear down her mother to allow them more freedom.

"Thank you Chichi-ue, Haha-ue.

She just eats quickly. "Gochisou-sama deshita!" She stands up, bows and clears her dishes away. She peeks into the fridge and grabs some rice balls. Hiyori then jumps up and grabs Yato's collar, pulling him away before he could eat more.

Up in the room. Yato was about to complain what her actions were for. She offers him the three rice balls she snuck up for him. "Here. Stop eating their food." She presents them. Yato picks them up and chows down.

...

The next evening Yato strays in. It was late and she couldn't bring herself to kick him out.

He appears the next evening after the sun has set.

Again

And again.

And again.

Yato occasionally ask her to be his shinki to do some ayakashi hunting job. He still hasn't found anyone to be his shinki.

She gets used to him coming every evening that it throws her off when he didn't. She worries. Hiyori feels odd, having so much space in bed. A smell was missing.

Yato appears the next evening. It was as if nothing had happened. 'When had she gotten used to him?'

"Why do you come here every night? Aren't you safer on shrine grounds?"

"I'm here because my shinki is here. A god is vulnerable without its shinki and vice versa." He does it out of a sense of responsibility. He had made her a shinki and abandoned her once. Yet she had still called for him. He will not abandon her again.

Yato was going to become her unwanted roommate for the future.

Hiyori spent the days practicing how to draw a barrier line. She was learning and getting better. It was fun! She once drew a circle around a mini hamster ayakashi, trapping it. Yato was surprised when he returned early one evening and found her tormenting the poor small ayakashi with a labyrinth they couldn't escape from. 'She can draw barrier lines! He hadn't taught her that.'

The next time Yato disappeared winter had rolled round. Sparkling frost flowers had covered the ground. Hiyori throws on a zip up hoody, a scarf and a trench coat, making sure to roll down her red jogging pants. She heads outside to make her first foot prints in the first snow. Hiyori knew from the anime that Yato has a habit of leaving his shinki behind for months for on end. She tries not to worry. If he doesn't at least give a call by the end of the month she was going to call him.

The month ended. She gives a call. Yato doesn't pick up. Hiyori waits another week before she takes action. She throws on her winter cloths and goes to look for him. Leaving her body behind. Hiyori finds the tallest building and stands there hoping to get a wisp of his smell. 'There!' She chases the trail to a road side shop. It was familiar. She sniff around. 'It's definitely this building. The trail ends here.' She makes a round back to the front.

She knocks on the door. Footsteps came closer. The door slides open. A man stood in the entrance. 'The shinki of the god of poverty?! What was his name again?' Hiyori recognizes him.

"Good morning. Sorry to disturb you. Have you seen Yato? Black hair, blue eyes? He disappeared a month ago."

"Who are you?" The gruff man asks her and observes her. He looks her in the eye. She felt human. She was about to introduce herself as Iki Hiyori but thought otherwise. He'll be suspicious if her name doesn't fit Yato's usual naming practice.

"I'm Wakane. Yato's shinki. Where is he? I know he's here. Will you take me to him, please?" Officially that was her name when it came to spirit business. She wasn't lying.

"Come in." He steps aside for Hiyori to enter. "Thank you. Pardon the intrusion." She takes off her shoes and follows him. 'What was this man's name again?' The memory doesn't come to mind. 'She'll find out later.' He leads her to attic. Lo and behold. There lay Yato in a futon. His face flushed. He was ill. She kneels by his side. He coughs. Definitely ill. It was no wonder. He was wearing too little.

"Yato you idiot." She mumbles trying to hide her embarrassment. She had thought of several situations from him disappearing due to a lack of followers, to him being eaten by an ayakashi to his father had appearing and keeping him busy. If anything she was the idiot for forgetting that his father's current incarnation was a toddler her age or that Yato suvived just fine until canon. "You made me fear the worst (for nothing)." She doesn't say the last part and lays a hand on his forehead to check his temperature. The shinki left to inform his lady about the guest. 'The shinki's name as a sacred treasure is Kokki. What was his other name? Something with the kanji charakter big... Dai-something? Daikokki? No that sounds wrong. His lady's name is Kofuku if she remembers correctly. Daikofuku? Close. Daikoku?! Yes. That's his name.'

The lady of the house enters the room. Hiyori still sitting on the ground, stands up and turns around. "Hello I'm Wakane. Thank you for taking care of Yato." She inclines her head. Making sure not to bow. Hiyori doesn't want to acknowledge that she has no idea if human medicine would work on a god too.

"So you're Yato's new shinki. I'm Kofuku and this is my shinki, Daikoku. Nice to meet you." Kofuku introduces them.

"Nice to meet you too. The pleasure is all mine. Thank you for inviting me in." Hiyori defaults to polite conversation 101.

"Hmm~." Kofuku nods satisfied. "So for how long have you been his shinki?"

Hiyori startles. She hadn't thought about it. She became his shinki about four months after her fourth birthday in June. It was early December now. She starts counting the months on her fingers. "A little over two months. I'm still pretty new to this." Yato had left her alone for a week after he had made her his shinki and left her for another 5 weeks. All together Hiyori has spent less than two weeks as an active shinki.

Hiyori stays until the sun was about to set. "I have something to take care off. Thank you having. I'll come again tomorrow." She returns home and slips into her body. That night she couldn't sleep. Her body had rested the entire day.

She had nothing to do. 'Wait. She had _something_ to do.' Earlier that week she had gone shopping for materials for Yato's shrine. She decided that _if_ she was going to make him a shrine, she would make a _better_ one than he had received in the anime. Her little perfectionist can't stand shoddy work. Cedar wood, some sandalwood, tiny nails, metal plates, rice paper, strings, straws, cloth, rubber sheets, cement, soil, gravel, rocks, glue, lacquer, blue porcelain glaze, bee wax, sandpaper (60, 80, 100, 120, 200, 400 and 1600 grained), carving tools, hand saw, little LED's, paint brushes, paint (red, yellow), ruler, hand saw (metal, wood), scissors, mosaic tiles, cutter, drill, a drawer lock and a handle, a bicycle dynamo, cables, battery, a water pump, several small plastic-rubber pipes, toothpicks, tweezers, some moss, substrate and a Sakura bonsai made the list of purchase. She went all out.

Hiyori started with the base framework. A sandalwood plank of 25x25x20cm and four sandalwood planks of 25x20cm was painstakingly measured and hand-sawed. One of the planks would have a rectangular cut out of 20x10cm for a drawer. The two 20cm-sides from the 25x20cm planks were then cut at a 45 degree angle and glued. When the glue dried five tiny nails that supported them was added to each corner. The wooden box had a dimension of 25x25x20cm.

She finally felt tired and sets her work aside for the day and went to sleep. The next morning she went to the mall and got a dark blue jacket, yellow woolly hat and a pair of mittens for Yato. 'If he got sick from not having enough to wear... This should do the trick to solve the problem.' Hiyori passed the bakery on her way home and got some cheese bread. She went home to drop her body off before heading to Kofuku.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

"You're back. Good morning."

"Good morning, Daikoku-san. Pardon the intrusion. I brought something for Yato. Is he awake yet?" Daikoku doesn't step aside to let her enter. He casually takes a drag from his cigarette, breathing out the smoke from his nostrils before answering.

"He woke up for a bit after you left. He was confused when we told him you visited. _Wa-ka-ne_, he didn't seem to know you." He suddenly drew a barrier line. "Who are you?!" He growls. Hiyori is thrown back and lands on the snow covered grown. 'She hadn't expected _this_.'

"Yato's shinki. Did he forgot me again?" She sighs, sitting up and rubbing her head with one hand. If he keeps doing that she'll develop athazagoraphobia. She pushes herself up with her other hand and stands. "I'm something like a substitute shinki. An emergency fall back shinki, so to say. I only come into action if Yato can't find another shinki to protect himself. The idiot probably got sick trying to find a more permanent shinki." She explains.

"A nora?!" Daikoku exclaims wearily. Yato had horrible experience with Noras. "I'm not a nora. I only own one shinki name. He knows me by another name though."

A door slams open. Daikoku's barrier line falters and re-strengthens. Kofuku skips out. "There you are, Daikoku~! Yatty's fever just broke. Oh! Is that our guest from yesterday? Come on in _Wa-ka-ne_!" Kofuku cheerfully intones the syllables. Daikoku wavers but eventually gives in to his lady's bidding. He lowers the barrier and steps aside.

"Good morning, Kofuku-sama. Pardon the intrusion." Hiyori enters and slips off her shoes. Just as she was about to past Kofuku, she heard a whisper. "Try anything and I'll curse you." It was loud enough that Daikoku could have heard it. Hiyori freezes before answering. "Rest assured, I won't."

'What a wonderful way to start the day. Lovely threats to her life really brightens up her day.' She jokes sarcastically. Hiyori climbs up the stairs to their attic and knocks the door. Daikoku and Kofuku following behind her. Yato had woken up when Daikoku made a racket earlier.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

"Yato! It's me. Are you awake?"

"Come in!" Yato sits up. Sweat covered his skin.

Hiyori enters. "Good morning, Yato. How are you feeling?" She approaches and puts down her bags.

"Hiyori! What are you doing here?! How did you find me?" Yato jumps at her and pulled her to him, possessively draping his arms over her shoulder. "I'm your shinki." To Yato it explains everything. To the rest of their audience it explains nothing. "Now get off me! You are sweaty."

"No~."

"You stink."

"Wrong. I smell good~! You l~i~k~e it.;)" Yato smirks.

'So this bastard knew she had been unconsciously been sniffing him in his sleep. She can't help it. Her body reacted without her knowledge.' She blushes embarrassed. Hiyori tugs his arm. They don't loosen. 'This was getting annoying.' Her hands poked and prodded. He didn't let go until her hand groped his butt. Yato reflexively throws his arms off and shielded his ass. She escaped the prison that was his arms. "Pervert! Help! Sexual harassment! —Come Naki!" He yells. Hiyori didn't manage to block the call spell in time and she flew right into his hands as a bayonet rifle. "I'm so happy you came looking for me." Yato cuddles the rifle.

'Sh*t-ake, she can't escape like this. She was not dealing with this bullshit. Think.' "Activate locked auto aim." A translucent green sphere appears. The bayonet rifle in Yato's hand jerks around seemingly aiming at random things but never shooting. "Stop! You're making it difficult to hug you.— Ah I get it. Revert Hiyori!"

"If anybody should claim sexual harassment it would be me, Yato. You're the one that is having your hand all over me all the time." she said dryly.

"Aaaah. St~op. You make it sound all wrong. I was just holding you as a shinki." He whines, smiling happily. He was definitely feeling better.

"Harharhar." She mock laughs. "By the way. I got you something."

"A shinki perhaps?" Yato asks. His brow raised. Somehow Hiyori got the image of her holding a suffering Yukine under the armpits, holding him out to Yato. "Hahaha." He chuckled. 'Could he read her thoughts?'

"Nope." She pops the _P_. "Luck was not on my side." Hiyori shrugs. In comparison to Yato she had more luck. "A jacket for the non-_idiot_ who got sick and some cheese bread you spoke of." She handed him the bags.

"Hiyori! Stop mocking me." Yato complains before launching himself in her direction. "You're the best." She anticipated his move and dropped low to roll to the side. Yato smacks right into Kofuku. Kofuku was happy to receive his affections.

"Hands of my lady!" Daikoku quickly dropkicks Yato back onto his futon.

—

Thank you for reading.


End file.
